 On Sunday morning , December 21 , 1958 , President Eisenhower 's press secretary , James Hagerty , issued a press release announcing that a new reverse design for the cent would begin production on January 2 , 1959 . The new design , by Frank Gasparro , had been developed by the Treasury in consultation with the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission . Approved by the President and by Secretary of the Treasury Robert B. Anderson , the new design featured the Lincoln Memorial in Washington , D.C. The redesign came as a complete surprise , as word of the proposal had not been leaked . The coin was officially released on February 12 , 1959 , the 150th anniversary of Lincoln 's birth , although some pieces entered circulation early . 
