History Focus
October 28

   
               

A short focus on a person or event associated with this day in History.

Statue of Liberty -

The Statue of Liberty originally called Liberty Enlightening the World symbolizing liberty in the form of a woman wearing flowing robes and a spiked crown of seven spokes (symbolizing the seven oceans and the seven continents) who holds a torch aloft in her right hand and carries in her left a book of law inscribed "July 4, 1776". The broken chains, symbolizing the overthrow of tyranny, lie at her feet.

October 28 of 1886, President Grover Cleveland delivered a dedication address at Liberty's dedication ceremony, during which she was ultimately unveiled to the American people.

 

Statue of Liberty

On the 4th of July, 1884, when Liberty was delivered to the American Ambassador in Paris, her enormous mass and gargantuan proportions awed the people crowded around her. She looked like a 15-story giant against the four- and five-story buildings of the city. People perched on rooftops to be able to take in her whole presence.

To travel from Paris to New York Harbor, Liberty had to be disassembled into 300 pieces and shipped in more than 200 wooden crates. The pieces of her torch-bearing arm alone--which had been displayed previously in Philadelphia for the 1876 centennial--filled 21 boxes.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was a gift to the Unitrd States of America from the country of France. Some facts about the statue are listed below:

It's height = 305 feet and 1 inch.
Height from foot to head is - 111 feet and 1 inch.
Height from the base to the torch is - 151 feet 1 inch.
The palm of her hand alone could contain several people.
The total weight is 225 tons.

There are 25 windows in the crown, and 171 stairs from the base to the torch.

Source: Many