Statue of Liberty general facts

Official name of the statue of liberty is "Liberty Enlightening the World"
Construction of the Statue of Liberty: began in France: 1875
Sculptor: Auguste Bartholdi - Quartermaster to a force of five thousand soldiers
Structural Engineer: Gustave Eiffel
Method of Fabrication: Repousse Process
Statue completed in Paris: June 1884
Statue presented to America by the people of France: July 4, 1884
Statue dismantled and shipped to US: Early 1885
Transport Ship: French frigate "Isere"
Number of individual pieces shipped to US: 350
Number of crates required: 214
Location of Statue: Liberty Island, formerly Bedloe's Island and Fort Wood (fortress for protection of New York Harbor 1811)
Architect of the pedestal: Richard Morris Hunt (in 1877)
Champion Fundraiser for the Pedestal: Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian immigrant, Publisher of the New York World.
Treasurer of The American Committee for the Statue of Liberty: Henry A. Spaulding
Date the cornerstone was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor: 5 August 1884
Source of Granite for the Pedestal: Leete's Island, Connecticut
Date of Final Assembly of statue & pedestal: 1886
Official accepting Statue on behalf of US: President Grover Cleveland
Date of Acceptance by President: October 28, 1886
Part of Acceptance Statement by President Cleveland: "We will not forget that liberty here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected".
Date designated a National Monument: October 15, 1924
Date arm closed to visitors: 1916 As a result of an ammunition dump explosion at Black Tom Wharf nearby in New Jersey
Wind speed at which Statue sways 3 inches (7.62 cm): 50 mph
Torch sway in 50 mph wind: 5 inches (12.7 cm).
Number of windows in the crown: 25
Number of spikes in the crown: Seven rays of the diadem  (7 oceans of the World)
Hand with which Statue holds tablet: Left
Inscription on tablet: "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals)
Height from base to torch (Bartholdi's design): 151' 1" (46.50m)
Height from base to torch (1984 Survey): 152' 2" (46.84m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (Bartholdi's design): 305' 1" (92.99m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (1984 Survey): 306' 8" (93.47m)
Heel to top of head: 111' 1" (33.86m)
Length of hand: 16' 5" (5.00m)
Index finger: 8' 0" (2.44m)
Circumference at second joint: 3' 6" (1.07m)
Size of fingernail: 13"x10" (33x25.4cm)
Weight of fingernail: About 3.5 pounds. (1.5 kg)
Head from chin to cranium: 17' 3" (5.26m)
Head thickness from ear to ear: 10' 0" (3.05m)
Distance across the eye: 2' 6" ( .76m)
Length of nose: 4' 6" ( l.48m)
Right arm length: 42' 0" (12.80m)
Right arm greatest thickness: 12' 0" (3.66m)
Thickness of waist: 35' 0" (10.67m)
Width of mouth: 3' 0" (.91m)
Tablet, length: 23' 7" (7.19m)
Tablet, width: 13' 7" (4.14m)
Tablet, thickness: 2' 0" (.61m)
Height of granite pedestal: 89' 0" (27.13m)
Height of foundation: 65' 0" (19.81m)
Weight of copper used in Statue: 179,200 pounds (81,300 kilograms)
Weight of steel used in Statue: 250,000 pounds (113,400 kilograms)
Total weight of Statue: 450,000 pounds (225 tons)
Thickness of Copper sheeting: 3/32 inch (2.37mm)
Scaffolding Contractor for 1984-1986 Renovation: Universal Builders Supply
Architect for 1984-1986 Renovation: Swanke Hayden Connell Architects
Window Subcontractor for 1984-1986 Renovation: TRACO - Three Rivers Aluminum Company
Activity in Pedestal of Statue: American Museum of Immigration
Fund Raising for 1980's Renovation of Liberty and Ellis Island: $ 500,000 in January 1983
$ 277 million by July 1986:
$ 150.6 million from direct mail, foundations, collections
$ 66.3 million sponsorships
$ 51.9 million stamps, books, and coins
$ 8.2 million licensed products, t-shirts, souvenirs
$ 305.4 million by 6 March 1987
Fundraising Costs: 12%
Liberty Construction Costs as of September 1986: $ 75 million
Approximate fabric in Liberty's dress: 4,000 sq.yds.
Bartholdi intentionally clothed Liberty as a classical Roman diety. She wears a palla, a cloak that is fastened on her left shoulder by a clasp. Underneath is a stola, which falls in many folds to her feet.
Length of sandal: 25'-0"
US Women's Shoe Size based on standard fomula: 879
(Length (inches)= 7.333 + ({[US Women's Size]-1}/3)


Liberty Island Chronology

Sources:
The Statue of Liberty, Birth to Rebirth by Sue Burchard, 1985, HBJ Publishers
New York's Forts (NYF) Or as noted

Pre 1600's Mohegan Indians call the island "Minnissais" meaning Lesser Island.
1664 English seize Oyster Island from Mohegan Indians
1668 Island sold to Issack Bedloo, New Amsterdam businessman and "select burgher", who names it "Love Island"
1673 Isaack Bedloo dies
1732 Bedloo's daughter Mary sells island to Adolphe Philipse and Henry Lane for 5 shillings. First used as quarantine station by New York City
1746 Archibald Kennedy, commander of British naval station, buys island for 100 pounds.
1753 Kennedy builds house, light house, promoted name of "Kennedy Island"
1759 New York State buys island for 1000 pounds, providing New Jersey with rights to surrounding water.
1760's New York builds hospital on island, effective for quarantine. Name Bedloe's Island remains.
1776 Bedloe's Island captured by British, buildings burned.
1780's Hospital rebuilt. Island becomes popular "resort" for oyster harvesting.
1793 Three year loan to the French fleet for isolation station and hospital
1800 February 15. New York cedes Bedloe's Island to US Government for defense purposes.
1806 Fort Wood constructed in shape of 11 point star, completed 1811 and manned during War of 1812. (NYF): Named Ft Wood (for Lt.Col. Elenzer Wood, Battle of Lake Erie)
1812 Begins 50 years of military occupation, barracks and operations buildings constructed
1830 New York and New Jersey enter treaty deeding Bedloe's Island to New York. Adjacent waters remain New Jersey jurisdiction. Today's docks and piers are in New Jersey waters.
1831 American Charles Gibbs was the last pirate hanged in the U.S. He went to the gallows on Bedloe Island, site of the Statue of Liberty in 1831.
1861 Used as Infirmary for 100 sick Confederate POWs. (NYF)
1871 Frederic Auguste Bartholdi visits America and Bedloe's Island, selects it as his favorite site for Statue of Liberty
1877 Congress authorizes New York Harbor for the Statue of Liberty and appoints Gen. W.T.Sherman to select site. He chooses Bedloe's Island.
Statue of Liberty National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 11
1884 Excavation begins for foundation of Richard Morris Hunt designed pedestal
1885 June 18. French navy transport Isere arrives with 214 crates full of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty
1885 November 4. Bartholdi arrives for 3 week visit to coordinate Liberty's construction
1886 October 15. Statue of Liberty dedicated on Bedloe's Island
1902 Taken over for maintenance by the War Department. (NYF)
1924 October 28. Statue declared National Monument, boundaries set as the outer perimeter of Fort Wood. War Department continues to administer entire island
1933 Statue of Liberty National Monument transferred to Interior Department. Remainder of Island remains military base. NPS takes over operations of two acres; Army keeps 10 acres. . (NYF)
1936 October 28. President Roosevelt, French ambassador de Labouyale (grandson of Liberty's French promoter) and 3500 others celebrate Liberty's 50th birthday on Bedloe's Island
1937 May 4. War Department transfers ownerhsip to Department of Interior. Only radio station remains.
1937 May 7. Statue closed to public. Demolition of Military Buidings, renovations to the Statue, enlargement of the island, landscaping underway.
1937 September 7. Roosevelt transfers Fort Wood reservation to Statue of Liberty National Monument.
1938 December 15. Statue of Liberty opens again to the public.
1944 December. Army Finally closes fort. (NYF)
1948 Garrison post buildings of Fort Wood torn down 1948-1950. (NYF)
1960 June 30. Bedloe's Island officially renamed Liberty Island.
1965 November 9. Liberty's lights remain lit during New York's famous "brown-out" thanks to underwater electric service from New Jersey
1986 July 3,4,5. Statue's centennial celebrated.
1986 October 28. Statue is rededicated by President Reagan
2001 September 11. Liberty Island is closed to the public in response to terrorist attack on World Trade Center
2001 December 20. Liberty Island re-opens to the public. Statue remains closed indefinitely due to continuing security concerns

Liberty Torch Chronology
Sources:
Statue of Liberty National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 11, 1952
Restoring the Statue of Liberty Hayden, Despont. McGraw-Hill. 1986.
Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia Moreno. Simon & Schuster. 2000.
1876 Torch and right hand completed in Paris. It was dismantled, crated and sent to the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibit, erected under Bartholdi's supervision..
1885-6 Statue erected on Bedloe's Island.
1886 Bartholdi recommends (8) lamps mounted on the torch platform. One week before the opening, Army Corps of Engineers decides to cut 2 rows of portholes in the flame and add interior lamps.
1886 October 28. Lighting at the dedication postponed due to rain.
1886 November 1, 7:35 PM. Lighting energized using steam powered electric generator, but the hoped for 50 mile visibility was obviously a failure. Observers on Manhattan Island could hardly see the light. Bartholdi describes it as the "light of a glowworm". Lighting turned off on November 7 for further work. Relit November 22.
1887 Lighting replaced with (9) arc lamps in the torch, (5) arc lamps at the base. Results still a disappointment
1887 February 4. Congress appropriates $19,500 for Liberty lighting plant.
1892 18 inch belt of glass replaces portholes, octagonal pyramid skylight added on top. Bartholdi disappointed as the flame was now mutilated.
1897 Oil fired generator installed to provide power.
1916 Torch retrofit with (600) windows of various tinted yellow glass, executed by Gutzon Bortlum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore. From the Presidential yacht Mayflower President Woodrow Wilson activated a new lighting system - (246) 250 watt incadescent lamps located at the start points of the old Fort Wood, and (15) 500 candle power gas-filled electric lamps in the torch.
1931 Lighting replaced with (96) 1000 watt incandescent lamps at the base. (13) 1000 watt and (1) 250 watt incandescent lamps installed in the torch.
1945 (16) 400 watt mercury vapor lights added
1949 Torch lighting revised to (10) 1000 watt and (3) 200 watt incandescent lamps and (6) 400 watt mercury vapor lamps
1984 "The flame was also a pressing issue, because the firm selected to construct a new flame and torch was gearing up to start the work. Since the old flame had been so badly assaulted over the years that it had lost some of the details of its original configuration, it was necessary to do meticulous research and design work to develop an accurate model of the original shape of the flame. Cliver and Roberts (Staff of the National Park Service) labored diligently, first minuitely examining old photographs of the flame and then developing a model of it in plaster. Though Swanke Hayden Connell (Project Architects) and its associate Architect, Thierry Despont, returned to the project after signing a new contract in late November, the basic design work had been done. Despont was most helpful to Cliver in his relations with the craftsmen of Les Metalliers Champenois, who, under the watchful eye of Cliver, carried the development of the flame through the quarter-size, half-size and full-size models. This example is but one of many of the influences that both Cliver and Robbins had in the design work on the Statue of Liberty. Virtually all of the public credit for the design of the work on the statue has gone to Swanke Hayden Connell and Despont, but the two who should get a healthy portion of the credit are Blaine Cliver and John Robbins."
Holland, 1993

1985 The year ended on a happier note. I returned to New York on December 29 and that evening Steve Briganti, the Mays, and I (F. Ross Holland) flew out to California for the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl game. The flame of the torch of the Statue of Liberty was to be on the lead float of the parade. This was better treatment for the torch than had occurred in the 1870s, when the hand and torch had been brought over to be a fund raising device. It had been displayed at the 1876 centennial exposition in Philadelphia and later in New York. It returned to France in 1884 to be placed on the statue. For fifty cents people could climb up into the hand and torch and out onto the gallery that circles the flame.

The lead float was sponsored by Hilton Hotels, and it was Barron Hilton who had invited us out for the festivities. The flame had left Liberty Island for the first time since it had arrived there over ninety-eight years earlier. There was opposition in the National Park Service, mostly by the professional staff, to taking the torch off the island. They thought that touring the flame was not in keeping with its dignity and that the flame was fragile and might not survive a move across country or that it might be injured by some crackpot intent on making a political statement. To satisfy the concern about its safety, the foundation went to a great deal of trouble to design and make a container that held the flame securely. A route to LaGuardia Airport was carefully mapped out to avoid unsafe roads and low bridges or overhangs.

On the day of the move the flame was loaded onto a flatbed trailer that was pulled to the pier, where a crane lifted it onto a barge. Electricians had hooked a battery to the electrical system of the flame so that during its move to LaGuardia the lighted flame could be seen through the clear plastic sides of the huge box. Workers off-loaded the trailer in Brooklyn, and a trailer then slowly pulled it to LaGuardia Airport, escorted by the police. At LaGuardia handlers carefully loaded the large box onto a Flying Tigers cargo plane that flew it to Los Angeles, where a bevy of news media people had gathered to greet the famous torch. John Robbins and Larry Bellante, at his own expense, had flown out with the torch. At Los Angeles, airport reporters besieged them with questions about the torch and the work on the statue.

From the airport the flame traveled to the staging area, where artists were creating the floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Carefully guarded by National Park Service rangers, who had been temporarily reassigned from California parks, the flame was the star attraction. The rangers were impressed with the public's reaction to the flame. They reported that people approached it with a degree of reverence, almost as if it were a religious icon. I later witnessed this reaction on the day of the parade, as the float holding the flame waited to move out with the parade.
Holland, 1993

1986 Torch replaced during renovation same as original solid copper. Gold leaf coating added. Statue and torch Metal Halide lighting scheme designed by Howard Brandston and the General Electric research lab. (40) 250 watt Metal Halide lamps on the statue's body, (16) 250 watt tungsten halogen incandescent lamps under the torch railing, (42) 6 volt spotlights light the torch from below, (4) 1000 watt MH floodlights mounted in the Statue's head.

7 Spikes in the Crown represent:
- Either Seven Seas:
Arctic, Antarctic, North & South Atlantic, North & South Pacific, Indian.
- Or Seven Continents:
North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia

25 windows in the crown represent: "natural minerals" of the earth
Toga represents: The Ancient Republic of Rome
Torch represents: Enlightenment
Chains underfoot represent: Liberty crushing the chains of slavery
Location of alternate entrance: Sole of Liberty's right foot

Steps to crown: 354 steps (22 stories) This ascent is not recommended for those with health problems. An elevator which goes as high as the top of the pedestal is also available. Visitors who take the elevator to the top of the pedestal cannot then climb to the crown.

Address and Phone Numbers:
Liberty Island
New York, NY 10004
(212) 363-7770
(212) 363-3200 (recorded message)
(212) 363-7620 (school group reservations)
(212) 363-8347 (fax)
(212) 363-6307 (library)

Operating Hours:
Open daily: 9:30AM - 5:00PM
Open for extended hours during Summer
Closed on December 25th.

Directions and Transportation:
Liberty and Ellis Islands are accessible by
Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry, Inc. ferries only.
One round trip ferry ticket includes visits to both islands.
Ferries depart from Battery Park in New York and Liberty State Park in New Jersey.
Private vessels are not permitted to dock at the islands.

Fees:
Admission to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is free and all
programs run by the National Park Service are free.
Round trip ferry tickets cost $7.00 for adults, $3.00 for children
and $5.00 for senior citizens, purchase at Castle Clinton
Call the ferry operator directly at (212) 269-5755 for additional information.

Months of Highest Visitation: July and August
Months of Lowest Visitation: January and February
Average Annual Visitation to Liberty and Ellis Islands: 4.2 million people.
Typical waiting time to climb to the crown during Summer: 3 hours.

Renovation Activities 1984-1986:
A team of French and American craftsmen worked in and around the statue, repairing popped rivets and replacing the corroded iron ribs with stainless steel. They strengthened the arm, incorrectly installed in 1886. French metal crafters replaced the old flame, lit from inside, with a gold-plated copper flame lit by reflection, in keeping with the sculptor's original conception.