James A. Surrell, M.D.

As we just completed of wonderful patriotic Fourth of July celebrations, I thought it would be timely to review a brief history of our great Statue of Liberty. The statue is a figure of a classically dressed woman, created in France. Our wonderful Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. The Statue of Liberty serves as a patriotic symbol of freedom and democracy. It was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924, and the employees of the USA National Park Service have been caring for the Statue of Liberty since 1933. Our Statue of Liberty is reported to be just over 150 feet tall.

On June 17, 1885, the ship from France arrived in New York with many crates holding the disassembled statue on board. Many New Yorkers displayed their profound enthusiasm for the statue. Two hundred thousand people lined the docks and hundreds of boats put to sea to welcome the ship. There were many months of promotion to donate money to the Statue of Liberty fund. Then, in August of 1885, it was announced that approximately $100,000 had been raised from 120,000 donors, and that 80 percent of the total had been received in sums of less than one dollar donations. One dollar donations back then would be equivalent to approximately a $35 donation amount today.

Following the success of the fund drive, the Statue of Liberty pedestal was then completely reassembled in the month of April, 1886. Immediately thereafter, reassembly of the statue began. The statue’s iron framework was anchored to steel I-beams within the concrete pedestal and the statue was then assembled. 

It was initially planned to put floodlights high on the statue to illuminate it. However, a week before the dedication, the Army Corps of Engineers vetoed that floodlight proposal, fearing that ship’s personnel passing the statue would be blinded by the floodlights located there. Instead, they cut portholes in the torch, and placed the floodlights inside of the portholes in the torch. A power plant was installed on the island to light the torch and for other electrical needs. When built, the statue was reddish-brown and shiny, but within twenty years it had oxidized to its current green color through reactions with air, water and exposure to New York weather.

The Statue of Liberty truly is a monumental symbol of our great freedoms and liberties that we are so blessed to enjoy in our great United States of America.