Located on the West side of the Atrium.

This plaque commemorates Abraham Lincoln's first visit to the Ohio Statehouse in 1859. Because the Franklin County Fair was going on at the same time as Lincoln's visit, and the fact that he wasn't yet well-known to Ohioans, Lincoln's speech was heard by a small gathering (reportedly few than 1000 people).

The Young Men's Republican Club of Columbus originally dedicated this plaque in 1934. A controversy surrounding a political group having a plaque at the Statehouse led to its removal and its replacement to a more generalized location.

Lincoln's Speech Memorial
HERE STOOD LINCOLN
AT THE INVITATION OF THE CITIZENS
OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ABRAHAM
LINCOLN DELIEVERED A MEMORABLE
ADDRESS HERE ON THE SIXTEENTH
DAY OF SEPTEMBER, EIGHTEEN
HUNDRED FIFTY NINE.
THIS COMMEMORATIVE MARKER
WAS ERECTED ON THE 75TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THAT
EVENT BY THE PEOPLE
OF OHIO
ERECTED SEPTEMBER 16, 1934