S t a t u e H i s t o r y
- The
idea of creating the Statue of Liberty began in France at a dinner party
hosted by Edouard Rene Lefebvre Laboulaye, a scholar. Laboulaye and Frédéric-Auguste
Bartholdi, a sculptor, began to discuss the idea of presenting the United
States with a monument to memorialize independence and human liberty.
- Bartholdi
sailed from France to New York on June 8, 1871, to propose the building of
the statue to honor the friendship between France and the United States.
- As
the ship pulled into New York Harbor, Bartholdi spotted the perfect
location, Bedloe’s Island. In 1956, the official name of the island was
changed to Liberty Island.
- During
his trip to the United States, he met with U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant;
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet; Horace Greeley, a New York
editor and politician; and others. Bartholdi traveled across the United
States carrying a sketch of the statue and a small model. Everyone was
receptive, but financial backing was difficult to find.
- In
1874, the Third Republic was formed in France, and Laboulaye and Bartholdi
knew the time was right to begin the statue. France would pay for the statue
and America would pay for the pedestal and foundation.
- Bartholdi
decided that repoussé, a technique to hammer sheet metal inside molds, was
the best way to create the outside shell of the statue. The shell is made of
31 tons of copper.
- Alexandre-Gustave
Eiffel designed the statue’s intricate steel skeleton. The total weight of
the steel is 125 tons. Later in 1889, he unveiled the Eiffel Tower in Paris,
France.
- In
June 1884, the statue was finished. The Statue of Liberty’s index finger
extends 8 feet and her arm is 42 feet long. From her heel to her head, she
stands just over 111 feet. Her mouth is 3 feet wide. She carries a tablet
that is 2 feet thick.
- Joseph
Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant and a journalist and owner of newspapers
such as World and St.
Louis Post-Dispatch, saw the opportunity to raise money to
build the statue’s pedestal and raise circulation for his newspapers.
- Packed
in 214 crates, the Statue of Liberty arrived in America on June 15, 1885.
- In
an effort to appeal to readers, Pulitzer promised that every contributor’s
name would be published in the newspaper no matter how much money was given.
On Aug. 11, 1885, Pulitzer announced in the World that $100,000 had been raised with donations coming from
more than 120,000 individuals. Circulation for his newspapers increased by
50,000 readers. In 1917, six years after Pulitzer’s death, the first
Pulitzer Prizes were awarded for excellence in journalism, literature and
drama.
- Richard
Morris Hunt designed the pedestal that sits on a concrete foundation. The
foundation is made of 24,000 tons of concrete, and from there, the pedestal
rises an additional 89 feet.
- To
reach the statue’s crown, one must climb 354 steps, equivalent to a
22-story building. There 25 windows in the crown to represent the gemstones
found on Earth. The seven rays of the statue’s crown represent the seven
seas and seven continents of the world.
- It
took six months to assemble the statue at its new home. Oct. 28, 1886, was
declared a public holiday to allow Americans to celebrate the statue’s
unveiling. More than 1 million people lined the streets for a parade.
- Workers
at Wall Street were the only ones working that day, and as the parade of
20,000 passed through the financial district, workers unreeled spools of
ticker tape out of their office windows. The first-ever ticker-tape parade
was born.
- Standing
305 feet in the air, the Statue of Liberty was New York’s tallest
structure until 1899 when Saint Paul’s Building was built at 310 feet.
- The
Lighthouse Board, the Army and American Committee and the War Department
maintained care for the statue. In 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
declared the Statue of Liberty to be a national monument. Since 1933, the
National Park Service has maintained the care of the statue.
- In
1981, the National Park Service determined that the Statue of Liberty was in
need of restoration. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation raised
$295 million. The foundation set aside $86 million to restore the statue.
- On
July 4, 1986, U.S President Ronald Reagan unveiled the restored statue
against a backdrop of fireworks. More than 1.5 billion television viewers
around the world watched the ceremony.
- In
2000, more than 4 million people visited the Statue of Liberty.