Abraham Lincoln Statue Removed by Boston Commission Workers took down the statue from Park Square early Tuesday. The statue was a replica of the one that sits in Washington. It was erected to commemorate Lincoln and his role in freeing slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. Ekua Holmes, vice-chair of the Boston Art Commission, said in a statement at the time that community members testified during a meeting that “it hurts to look at this piece.” “After engaging in a public process, it’s clear that residents and visitors to Boston have been uncomfortable with this statue, and its reductive representation of the black man’s role in the abolitionist movement,” added Mayor Marty Walsh, a Democrat.