President-Elect Abraham Lincoln met his famous correspondent, twelve-year-old Grace Bedell, at the train station in Westfield on February 16, 1861. Before this meeting, Grace had written to Lincoln suggesting that whiskers would improve his appearance. When they met, Lincoln shook her hand, kissed Grace, and asked how she liked the improvements she had advised. The statues were created by sculptor Don Sottile, a native of Westfield, and cast in bronze at the Fireworks Foundry in Penn Yann, upstate New York. Westfield credited town historian Billie Dibble for the inspiration and Dr. Kent L. Brown for guiding the project to completion.
