Edward Bates Statue in Forest Park
Tour Stop
Directions: The Edward Bates Statue [ Waypoint = N38 38.568 W90 17.762 ] is located in the northwest corner of Forest Park in the center of a traffic circle at the intersection of Lagoon Drive and Fine Arts Drive.
- Heading east on I-64, take Exit 33C and turn left (north) onto McCausland Avenue.
- After about 0.3 miles, continue heading north on Skinker Boulevard.
- After about 0.9 miles, Enter Forest Park by turning right (east) on Lagoon Drive.
- After about 0.4 miles, look for a place to park.
- The Edward Bates Statue is in the center of a traffic circle at the intersection of Lagoon Drive and Fine Arts Drive.
Description: Edward Bates was a Missourian who ran unsuccessfully for the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination. Bates would serve in President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet as the US Attorney general from 1861-1864.
Born in Virginia, Bates moved to St. Louis in the Missouri Territory in 1914 when he was 21 years old. Bates studied and became a lawyer in 1816. In 1820, Edward Bates was elected as one of 41 delegates who would draft the first constitution for the State of Missouri. Bates would serve as the State of Missouri's first Attorney General , was a state legislator and would represent Missouri in the US House of Representatives in 1826. [24]
Bates was a longtime member of the Whig Party, but would join the fledgling Republican Party. In 1860, Edward Bates ran for the Republican Nomination to run for President of the United States. But of course we all know he lost to Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln was elected President, he would appoint Edward Bates to be his Attorney General, a position that Bates held from 1861 to 1864.