A rare American treasure tied to President Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession has reportedly made its way to New York City — and is now on display at a historic Midtown steakhouse.

Keens Steakhouse, the 141-year-old establishment known for its vast collection of Americana, unveiled the massive flag during a private ceremony Thursday, the New York Post reported.

The flag, which draped Lincoln's casket as his funeral train traveled across the country following his assassination in 1865, was purchased at auction for $525,000.

"It's truly a treasure," Julia Lisowski, Keens Steakhouse's general manager, told the Post of the historic flag, which was used in the procession after the 16th president was fatally shot at Ford's Theatre just days after the end of the Civil War.

"It's a really special and amazing piece of history that we are so honored to have here," she added.

The 37-star American flag is believed to be the only surviving casket flag from Lincoln’s funeral train, which carried the slain commander in chief from Washington to his burial site in Springfield, Illinois. It will now be permanently displayed in Keens' second-floor "Lincoln Room," which houses a collection of artifacts tied to the Republican president.

According to Lisowski, the flag's placement in Manhattan represents a symbolic return home. The banner was originally commissioned from Annin & Co., the Fulton Street-based firm recognized as the nation's oldest and largest flag manufacturer.

In 1865, the flag traveled about 1,600 miles aboard the funeral train, passing through hundreds of towns and cities — including a stop at City Hall in Manhattan.

Known as the Applegate Flag, it reflects its long stewardship by descendants of Army doctor Lewis Applegate.

The flag was originally gifted to Applegate by Sen. Edwin D. Morgan, one of only six Senate pallbearers who accompanied the funeral train, Lisowski said. The Applegate family preserved the flag for more than 150 years.

After leaving the Applegate family in 1977 and passing through two other families, the flag was donated to the Museum of Southern History in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1996. It remained there until 2023, when it was rediscovered "down a dark hallway behind a bookcase" during an inventory review.

Around that same time, Keens changed ownership, with billionaire Tilman Fertitta purchasing the steakhouse for $30 million. Lisowski described it as "kismet" that Fertitta assumed ownership just as auction house Guernsey's prepared to sell the flag in 2024.

Fertitta, the hospitality executive behind brands including Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., secured the artifact with a winning bid of $525,000.

Before going on display, the flag reportedly underwent months of restoration at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Textile Conservation Laboratory.

Lab director Marlene Eidelheit told the Post that the banner was carefully examined, cleaned and repaired, but overall "wasn't bad" compared with other Civil War-era presidential artifacts.

The flag now joins an array of Lincoln memorabilia at Keens, including political cartoons, a copy of the Bixby letter Lincoln wrote to a Union widow who lost several sons in the Civil War and a stained theater program that a framed article claims Lincoln was holding the night he was assassinated.

"Guests come to Keens not just for a meal, but for a sense of history; and the Abraham Lincoln Casket Flag 1865 is one of the most meaningful artifacts we have ever had the privilege to display," Lisowski added.

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