Springfield's Lincoln, a life-sized bronze sculpture of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and their sons, Robert and Willie, which has been nearly three years in the making, will arrive Wednesday in Springfield. It will be assembled Thursday and Friday and unveiled at 11 a.m. Saturday during a ceremony on the Old Capitol Plaza, its permanent home.

"This was the Lincoln that was in Springfield," said Nicky Stratton of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage program. "It's the time in his life when he's on the ascendancy again, beginning to be interested in reviving his political career, going over his feelings about slavery and starting to speak up again."

The piece shows Lincoln on his way from his law office to the Old Capitol to deliver a speech, called the Peoria Speech, and pausing while his wife, Mary, adjusts his clothes. Willie is waiving goodbye to his brother, Robert, who is leaving the family group on his way to school. It is meant to be a snapshot of a possible, but fabricated, moment in Lincoln's life on Oct. 4, 1854.

The statue will be placed between the Lincoln-Herndon law office building on the southeast corner of the plaza and the Old Capitol itself.

The $210,000 sculpture will be the highlight of what is planned as a series of more than 30 outdoor exhibits, part of a program called "Here I Have Lived," that is designed to explain Lincoln's life during his nearly 25 years in Springfield. The $769,000 program is being paid for by the city, largely through a state grant.

The other exhibits will be display boards on steel posts around downtown that will interpret sites important to Lincoln's life in Springfield, such as his law office and the site of a barbershop where he spent time with friends.

"This will be the first piece of a much bigger project that will go in by the end of the summer," Stratton said. "It will be like a big storyboard, so you can walk from one place to another. This statue is the symbol of the whole program."

The Lincoln family sculpture is meant to be touched and climbed upon.

The artist, Larry Anderson, said he intended it to be an interactive piece.

"I like participation," he said. "That's why most of my work is life-sized, so you can interact with them in a comfortable way," he said.

Anderson, who lives near Tacoma, Wash., said Springfield is where Lincoln "was closest to being (part of) a family than he ever was." He said he felt it was important the statue reflect that.

Anderson said he paid close attention to detail in designing the piece - studying clothes from the period, looking at photographs from that era, traveling to Springfield and doing other research.

Mary Lincoln's dress is modeled after a pattern from the 1850s worn by an interpreter in the Lincoln Home area. The boys are wearing "whaler" hats that were popular at the time, and the books Robert is carrying are books he studied in school. Lincoln's speech is tucked into his hatband, and the handwriting sculpted on it is as close to Lincoln's as possible.

Stratton said the sculpture is symbolic in many ways. Mary is adjusting Lincoln's lapels, much as she smoothed the rougher edges of his upbringing; Willie, who was close to his parents, is standing next to his mother; Robert is farther away, as he was from his parents.

"Anderson has successfully symbolized both Lincoln's political career and his domestic life in Springfield," she said.

The other exhibits in the "Here I Have Lived" series also will have interactive elements - spots on them where people can do rubbings.

"It's another new product for Springfield and another reason to stay longer," said Tim Farley, director of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. "When people spend more time here, they spend more money here.

"This is another piece of the puzzle for downtown. Once the markers start going up, they are almost like a museum in themselves. They are very attractive and professionally done. They will help tell the story of Lincoln and his effect on Springfield."

Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.