The Statue of Liberty arrived in pieces, making her the first do-it-yourself monument. (Photo credit- French Archives Library of Congress)
With her guiding light and portentous full name, “Liberty Enlightening the World,” the statue’s creation represented the abolition of slavery, the fight against tyranny, and goodwill between nations. America’s relationship with France has seen some low points, like “freedom fries,” but the “Mother of Freedom” endures as a reminder of cooperation between the nations.
A Massive Undertaking
The Statue of Liberty under construction in Paris, 1884. (Granger REX Shutterstock)
Before the “Lady of the Harbor” made the trip across the pond in 214 crates and 350 individual pieces, the entire structure was constructed and deconstructed in Paris. The idea came from Édouard de Laboulaye, a poet and antislavery activist. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a sculptor interested in large-scale designs while Gustave Eiffel, of the Eiffel Tower, did the heavy lifting.
Serious Shipping & Handling
She was modeled after Libertas, the Roman Goddess of Freedom.
The project’s sheer scale beggars belief. 179,200 pounds of copper were fitted over 250,000 pounds of iron that rose over 150 feet into the air. Once that was done they dismantled the entire structure which was packed and shipped across the Atlantic. And you thought your moving experience sucked! To further the unlikelihood of this entire endeavor, both the United States and France were very low on funds. To pay for the project, they elicited money from the public. In order to drum up support, the head of the “Green Goddess” was featured at the Paris World’s Fair in 1878.
A Much Anticipated Arrival
The unboxing of Lady Liberty drew crowds of thousands. (rarehistoricalphotos)
Over five years $102,000 poured in from both American and French citizens. Adjusted for inflation that’s just shy of $3 million. Amazingly, the vast majority of donations were less than a dollar. Chances are many of the 200,000 plus people who lined up to witness the arrival of “America’s Great Lady” donated their spare change to the project. Those same people likely helped pay for the massive pedestal that pushed “Aunt Liberty’s” height to over 300 feet.
The total cost ran just over $500,000, which equates to about $10million by today's money.
While Edouard de Laboulaye conceived the idea as a triumph over slavery and commemoration to American democracy, he also hoped it would inspire the French to fight for democracy in their own country. Bartholdi, on the other hand, slyly used the opportunity to deliver the all-time mic drop of a Mother’s day gift: he modeled the face after his own mother. Thankfully, all of Liberty’s pieces arrived safely, despite the ship almost going down in a storm. Then the massive construction began.
“Saint Liberty’s” Construction
The "Green Lady's head awaiting her pedestal. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
The many copper-colored pieces arrived in June of 1885 and the final touches fell into place nearly a year later in April. Unlike in Paris, workers had to be attached to her penny colored skin by dangling from ropes! The diminutive width of her pedestal prohibited the erection of scaffolds. In perhaps the most incredible part of the whole project, no one was hurt during her assembly. However, they did manage to put her head on two feet off-center!
Liberty Playground
The "Green Lady" was once copper but changed color thanks to oxidization.
Obviously, back in the day, people lived with a laissez-faire attitude that today would seem inconceivable today. Nevertheless, it’s crazy that for many years, children would literally climb all the way up to the tip of the torch. Regrettably in 1916, 2 million tons of explosives went off on Black Tom, an island in New York harbor.
The blast was so powerful it registered a 5.5 on the Richter scale. Shrapnel and other incendiaries embedded themselves within our “Mother of Freedom.” Later it was discovered that the Germans set off the explosion in order to stymie the war effort. This explosion prompted the clambering on the statue to end but after the “Black Tom” incident, the scaling to the torch stopped. Thankfully, the statue withstood the damage and stood standing as the beacon of hope she remains today.
