This Statue of Liberty is one of about 200 Statue of Liberty replicas manufactured by Friedley-Voshardt Co. of Chicago. The statues, the brainchild of Kansas City businessman, J.P. Whitaker, then Scout Commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council, were placed in cities in 39 states, as well several of its possessions and territories. There are two in Montana, the other one being in Gibson Park in Great Falls.
A 40th anniversary project of the Boy Scouts of America, the statues were erected in the early 1950s by Boy Scout troops across the country to celebrate the anniversary. Constructed of sheet copper, each statue weighs 290 pounds, originally costing $350. Each one is approximately 8½ feet tall, not counting the base. This particular example stands on a stepped base consisting of five levels of rough cut granite blocks.
Below is text from a plaque mounted at the statue which recounts a bit of the history of the original Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island.
Statue of Liberty
This replica of the Statue of Liberty was obtained in about 1950 to help celebrate Boy Scouting, which was established in Great Britain in 1908. The Boy Scouts of America soon followed. I.P. Whitaker, then scout commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council, originated the Statue of Liberty replica program to celebrate scouting's 40th anniversary. Lewistown purchased one of the more than 200 Liberty replicas.
In 1984, Bryan McConnell, with the LDS Troop 366 of Lewistown, restored the local replica and placed it in this area of Symmes Park.
The full name is the Statue of Liberty-Liberty Enlightening the World. It was the idea of Edouard Rene de Laboulaye, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society. He inspired his friend, sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, to design the copper statute. Constructed by Gustave Eiffel, it was dedicated on what is now Liberty Island in New York harbor on October 28, 1886.
The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France. Since 1886, it has welcomed immigrants to this country. The statue has been renovated three times, in 1938, 1984-1986, and 2011-2012. Since 1933, it has been maintained by the National Park Service.
Although the people of France paid for the statue, Americans had to pay for the base on which it stands. To help raise funds, Emma Lazarus wrote a poem which is graven on a tablet within the pedestal on which the statue stands.
After McConnell restored the replica in 1984, he added a plaque at the site that gives the best known line from Emma Lazarus's famous poem: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
From the plaque at the statue