Statue of Liberty - New York, NY

Current Structure: Designed in 1876, completed in 1886.
Owning Organization: Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
Location: Liberty Island, New York Harbor
​

Tourism Information

The Statue of Liberty is accessible only by ferry. Departure points are available from New Jersey and Manhattan Island. 
​
Open Daily, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

History

Bledloe's Island was an important island in New York Harbor dating back to the Revolutionary War and became a military post in 1807. In 1865, following the Union victory in the Civil War, Frenchman Edouard de Laboulaye suggested that France honor American Democracy with a gift for their centennial in 1876. In 1870, sculptor Auguste Bartholdi takes up Laboulaye's cause and designs what would become the Statue of Liberty. The project misses the 1876 deadline, largely due to funding issues around the construction of the statue's pedestal. ​

​In 1883, Emma Lazarus writes the poem "The New Colossus" in support of the project. In 1885, newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer took up the cause, calling for donated funds to build the pedestal.

That same year, the statue arrives in New York City to great fanfare, but is put in storage for a year as the pedestal is completed. Built of Rosendale cement from the Hudson Valley and faced with granite, the pedestal was completed in early 1886.

The statue is assembled on site that year and officially opened in October, 1886. Upon opening, President Cleveland declared it under the auspices of the United States Lighthouse Board - the Statue of Liberty was officially a lighthouse. Lighting the torch was fraught with complications due to use of the newly available electric lighting. But on November 22, 1886, the Statue of Liberty became an operational lighthouse.

In 1901 the Lighthouse Board surrendered control of their portion of the island at the request of the War Board, who still operated the military fort on the north side of the island. "The New Colossus" is inscribed on the pedestal in 1903. In 1932 the fort was decommissioned and the National Park Service took control of the island. ​

The New Colossus
BY EMMA LAZARUS
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “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!”
Picture
Statue of Liberty at night. 1917, Library of Congress.

Keepers

Head:
1886-1902 - Albert E. Littlefield 

First Assistant:
1886-1887 - Ira Watts
1887-1888 - Eugene Newton
1888 - George W. Cornell 
1888-1889 - Edward Manning 
1889 - Henry C. Fanning 
1889-1890 - W.P. Sturtevant 
1890-1989 - Charles Miller 
1898-1902 - Martin F. Cody 

Second Assistant:
1886-1887 - Henry Brewster
1887 - Eugene Newton
1887 - John Dunleavy 
1887-1888 - George W. Cornell 
1888 - Edward Manning 
1888-1889 - W.P. Sturtevant 
1889-1890 - Charles Miller 
1890-1898 - Martin F. Cody 
1898-1899 - Ole N.A. Anderson

Third Assistant:
1886-1888 - Patrick Gilligan
1888 - Daniel Sullivan 

Fourth Assistant:
1886-1888 - Michael Coady 
1888 - Bernard Monahan

Contact

Main Website:
www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm

Contact Info:
www.nps.gov/stli/contacts.htm

Get Involved:
www.nps.gov/stli/getinvolved/index.htm

Mailing Address:
Liberty Island 
New York, NY 10004

Phone:
(212) 363-3200