Perhaps the most frequently asked question by visitors to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine is “Why is there a Lincoln museum in Redlands, California?” The answer lies in the remarkable life of part-time Redlands resident, Robert Watchorn. Born into the working class of Alfreton, England in 1858, Robert Watchorn was forced by his family’s poverty to begin work in the region’s coal mines at the tender age of 11. Watchorn endured eighteen hour shifts in dangerous conditions for the meager wage of 27 cents a day. In 1880, Watchorn immigrated to America, where he found work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. As a new American, Watchorn quickly became fascinated with the dramatic story of Abraham Lincoln, who had been martyred at the moment of his greatest triumph, just 15 years before. Watchorn saw in Lincoln the personification of the “American dream,” the ability to improve your circumstances if you are willing to study hard, work diligently, and apply yourself. Lincoln himself labeled this phenomenon “the right to rise.”
Like Lincoln, Watchorn knew education was the key to advancement. He organized a night school for miners and became involved in the early American labor movement, culminating with his election as the first secretary of the United Mine Workers union. His efforts caught the attention of Pennsylvania’s governor, Robert Pattison, who appointed him the Inspector of Factories and Mines in 1891. Among Watchorn’s achievements was successfully ending the scourge of child labor in the state.
Governor Pattison was then able to secure Watchorn a position in the United States Immigration Service. In 1905, President Roosevelt
appointed him Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island in New York City’s harbor. Watchorn worked to ease the burden of those
awaiting processing into America. In 1909, newly elected president William Howard Taft dismissed Watchorn for his pro-immigration
stance. Watchorn joined the Union Oil Company as its treasurer. His own wildcatting attempts proved highly successful and he
amassed a fortune with the Watchorn Oil and Gas Company. When Watchorn acquired the financial resources, he began purchasing books,
artifacts and manuscripts associated with Lincoln’s life and times. An admirer of the community of Redlands, he chose the town
for his winter home. A highly devout man, Mr. Watchorn gave freely of his wealth: chimes for churches in Redlands, Los Angeles, and
La Crescenta; housing and a park in his home town of Alfreton; and Watchorn Hall at the University of Redlands.