The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York in 350 pieces shipped in more than 200 boxes on this day in history, June 17, 1885.
Assembly of the Statue of Liberty took more than a year; and the statue would not be officially unveiled to the public until October 1886.
An “enduring symbol of freedom and democracy,” the Statue of Liberty was given as a gift by the people of France in celebration of American independence and the friendship of the two countries, according to the History Channel website.
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Designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the copper and iron statue was about a decade late.
It was originally intended as a centennial gift in 1876, History.com said.
The delay was partly due to issues with fundraising, according to the same site. Among the more unusual fundraising efforts were a lottery and boxing matches.
The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in 1893, about eight years after it first arrived in 350 pieces. (Loeffler/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
While France funded the cost of the statue, the pedestal was funded by the United States, the Statue of Liberty website says.
“Poet Emma Lazarus wrote her famous sonnet 'The New Colossus' in 1883 for an art and literature auction,” the site said.
The poem, which includes the famous lines: “Give me your weary, your poor, your huddled masses that long to breathe free,” was cast in bronze and displayed inside the pedestal.
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As in France, fundraising for the pedestal was going at a snail's pace, according to the Statue of Liberty's website.
“To provoke public action, in 1885, Joseph Pulitzer placed an advertisement in his New York World newspaper inviting readers to donate to the cause. In exchange, Pulitzer printed each donor's name in the newspaper,” the site said.
Head of the Statue of Liberty on the Champ de Mars, Paris. (Getty Images)
It worked: 120,000 people donated more than $100,000, the amount needed to pay for the rest of the construction.
In total, the Statue of Liberty cost approximately $250,000 in 1880 money, a figure that would be equivalent to nearly $6 million in 2023, the History Channel said.
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Meanwhile, construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal continued in the United States, further delaying the project.
“While awaiting construction of its pedestal, the statue remained in pieces on what was then called Bedloe Island,” the Statue of Liberty website said.
The Statue of Liberty was originally a gift from France to the United States. It arrived, in pieces, on a day like today in history, 1885. (iStock)
Construction of the pedestal would not be complete until April 1886, the Statue of Liberty website says.
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When it was completed, its height of 151 feet, 1 inch made it the tallest structure in the United States, according to multiple sources.
The crown of the statue can only be accessed by climbing 162 stairs.
The arm holding the torch is 46 feet long, according to the website.
The Statue of Liberty's finger is eight feet long and her nose is approximately five feet long.
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Visitors can enter the statue and climb to the crown; However, the statue's crown can only be accessed by climbing 162 stairs, according to the National Park Service.
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“There is no elevator service to the crown. The climb is exhausting,” says, among other ideas and advice, the Park Service website.
