German Saboteurs, The Wright Brothers, and 600 Bolts of Lightning
Fifteen things you might not know about The Statue of Liberty
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German Saboteurs, The Wright Brothers, and 600 Bolts of Lightning
The Statue of Liberty, which was given to the people of America as a gift by the people of France in 1886 to celebrate its centennial, is one of the most recognized images in the world. Hosting more than four million visitors annually, roughly a million of whom are non-Americans, the Statue of Liberty is an essential part of the heritage and iconography of the United States. Here are fifteen things you might not know about this beloved monument.
The idea for the Statue of Liberty was conceived at a dinner party in France in 1865. A group of French leaders at that party who were disillusioned with the rule of Napoleon III discussed offering a gift to the United States in recognition and admiration of American values. The group also hoped that the gift might make Americans more likely to support France in their future efforts towards freedom and equality. One of the attendees was Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, a 31-year-old sculptor, who became enamored with the idea. His work on the Statue of Liberty began in earnest ten years later in 1875.
The Statue of Liberty being built in France in the 1880s. Source: New York Public Library via The Daily Mail. One of the key catalysts for the construction of the Statue of Liberty was the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, but this has been largely forgotten as equality was not a true reality for African Americans. The Statue’s key advocate was Édouard de Laboulaye, who led a committee in France to raise money for freed slaves. Laboulaye was the host of the 1865 dinner, which took place concurrent with the end of the Civil War and the freeing of millions of American slaves, which was one of his motivations for the construction of the Statue; the Statue of Liberty was meant in part to be a celebration of this new freedom for blacks in America. The right foot of the Statue of Liberty itself is stepping out of shackles and chains. “It’s a meaning that didn’t stick,” said historian Edward Berenson and author of The Statue of Liberty: a Transatlantic Story” in an interview with The Washington Post, undoubtedly because equality for blacks in America was far from a reality.
The Statue of Liberty itself was designed by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, but a portion of the interior (i.e. the “spine” of the statue) was designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. Work by Bartholdi, Eiffel, and others concluded in France in 1883 with different sections shown off at various world exhibitions. It was then shipped in pieces to New York City, where it was reassembled and commissioned in 1886. Eiffel then began work on his other world famous structure, the one that still bears his name in Paris to this day.
The inside of the Statue of Liberty as designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. Source: National Parks Service When it was first built, the Statue of Liberty was a different color. The Statue turned its more familiar greenish color over the course of twenty to thirty years as its original copper oxidized. (Local readers of The Sunday Morning Post will note the same phenomenon in the roof of the Bangor Public Library; copper, as is it weatherized, does not retain its original color). After the Statue of Liberty turned green, a New York newspaper pondered the question about whether it should be painted, but there was such a strong outcry from the local population of New York at the time who had become accustomed to the greenish color that the idea was quickly forgotten. The blue-green color is now sometimes known as “Statue of Liberty Green,” but there is also a French color-term known as “verdigris” that refers to the color of copper that has oxidized that pretty precisely encapsulates it. Ian Frazier has an interesting piece in the New Yorker that covers the color question in more depth, which you can read here.
An estimation of the change in color of the Statue of Liberty over time. Source: Reddit user Parkesy14. Original source unknown. The cost of the statue was paid by ordinary citizens in France and the United States. The Americans were responsible for the pedestal of the statue. When the fundraising committee was struggling to raise enough money, Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World newspaper, implored his readers to donate, saying:
We must raise the money! The World is the people's paper, and now it appeals to the people to come forward and raise the money. The $250,000 that the making of the Statue cost was paid in by the masses of the French people- by the working men, the tradesmen, the shop girls, the artisans- by all, irrespective of class or condition. Let us respond in like manner. Let us not wait for the millionaires to give us this money. It is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaires of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America.
Pulitzer was so successful that $100,000 was raised in six months, the majority of which was raised through donations of $1 or less. As a thanks (and perhaps a mechanism to sell more papers!), the World printed the names of every person who donated regardless of the size of their donation, which filled pages upon pages of newsprint.
There are many different theories about who the Statue is modeled after. A common idea is that is it modeled after the sculptor’s mother. Another idea is that it is modeled as an Egyptian woman since Bartholdi had proposed a very similar statue to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal several years prior, but the Egyptian government declined due to the high cost. Others suggest it is not modeled after a specific woman, but instead is an amalgamation of Eurocentric ideals of the Greek Goddess of Liberty and even the Virgin Mary.
An early pamphlet about the Statue of Liberty, which shows the original copper color. Source: Library of Congress. New York’s most famous icon almost ended up in Boston or Philadelphia. Both cities made overtures to the sculptor, who was frustrated at times that New York was not raising enough money to help pay for it.
The Statue of Liberty was utilized as a lighthouse from 1886 to 1901 under control of the federal Lighthouse Board. Responsibility for the Statue was then transferred to the War Department until 1932 as the island on which the Statue sits was an actual military post with barracks for service members. In 1932 it was transferred to the National Park Service where it has remained ever since.
In addition to its usefulness as a lighthouse, the location of the Statue of Liberty was strategic: the location for the Statue was chosen specifically because every ship coming into New York Harbor including those filled with immigrants would pass by it. The Statue was meant to be a welcoming beacon for those longing to be free. Poet Emma Lazarus wrote a poem called “The New Colossus” in 1883 to help with the fundraising, and the words were inscribed in a bronze plaque at the Statue’s base in 1903. The poem includes the phrase:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Immigrants viewing the Statue of Liberty. Source: National Park Service The Statue of Liberty was damaged in an attack by German saboteurs just prior to the United States’ entry into World War I. A nearby man-made island known as “Black Tom Island” was being used for storage of military supplies that were about to be shipped to Russia. The German government sent spies to the United States to disrupt military supply chains, which they effectively did by blowing up massive amounts of small arms and ammunition on Black Tom Island on July 30, 1916. The nearby Statue of Liberty was partially damaged in the blast, which was felt as far away as Philadelphia and would have registered between 5.0-5.5 on the Richter scale. The event led to the Espionage Act and, eventually, reparations paid by Germany to the United States (plus, some believe, to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II).
It has been estimated that the Statue of Liberty is struck by lighting more than 600 times per year. It is also susceptible to the wind, swaying up to three inches during strong windstorms. The Statue’s flame is said to sway up to six inches.
Photo Credit: photographer Jay Fine via the BBC. In 1909, Wilbur Wright of Wright Brothers fame successfully flew around the Statue of Liberty in the first successful flight of an airplane over water. He modified the plane by attaching a red canoe to the bottom in case he had to land in the water. He also brought a lifejacket!
There are replicas of the Statue of Liberty all over the world including prominent versions near the Eiffel Tower and in the Jardin de Luxomborg in Paris. A life-size replica of the original torch of the Statue of Liberty can be found above the entrance to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. It was in this tunnel that Princess Diana was killed in 1997 and that torch is now considered unofficially to be a memorial to her.
Statue of Liberty replica in Nice, France. Photo credit: Penny Vanderbilt. One of the most unknown facts about the Statue of Liberty? That’s not actually its original name. Although it is now known by the National Parks Service as The Statue of Liberty National Monument, its original name per the sculptor was “Liberty Enlightening the World.”
While you can’t climb up to the top of the Statue of Liberty to peer out from its crown anymore, there are live cameras set up on the Statue with different views. You can view them for free here.
The Statue of Liberty has a fascinating story, some of which could have been lost to time if not for historians and authors preserving and digitizing its history. What should never be forgotten is its purpose and message as a symbol of freedom from oppression. While the world has changed a great deal since the Statue of Liberty was commissioned in 1886, its message has not.
Ben Sprague lives and works in Bangor, Maine as a V.P./Commercial Lending Officer for Damariscotta-based First National Bank. He can be reached at ben.sprague@thefirst.com or bsprague1@gmail.com. Follow Ben on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and subscribe to this weekly newsletter by clicking below.
Got news tips or story ideas? Email me at bsprague1@gmail.com.