Unexpected Lincoln: A Shrine in the Desert

By Jeffrey Boutwell

Columbia, Md.

Monday, April 6, 2026

Redlands, California, an hour east of Pasadena on the way to Palm Springs in the desert, would seem an unlikely spot for a heartfelt memorial to Abraham Lincoln.  Though our 16th president and wife Mary had expressed hopes of visiting California and the American West following his second term in office, it wasn’t to be.

Instead, Lincoln’s presence in Southern California would have to wait until 1932, when Robert and Alma Watchorn created the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands to honor their deceased son’s love and admiration for Abraham Lincoln. Ewart Watchorn, who died in 1921 from an illness contracted while serving as a pilot in Italy in World War I, had had a passion for Lincoln.

In addition to building the beautiful stone museum and memorial, the Watchorns donated their impressive collection of Lincoln materials, including an original Norman Rockwell oil painting, "The Long Shadow of Lincoln," that today is cared for by an association that includes archivists from the impressive A.K. Smiley Public Library nearby.

My wife Buthaina and I spent a delightful day in Redlands recently and learned much from spending time with Maria Carrillo Colato, special collections manager, and Mike Hoover of the Inland Empire Civil War Roundtable.

Precisely because it is so distant from the usual Lincoln heritage sites east of the Mississippi River, the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands offers a wonderfully contemplative experience with which to appreciate all that Abraham Lincoln gave to and meant for our country.

Photo by Jeffrey Boutwell