The Statute of Liberty in New York Harbor, a symbol of freedom since 1886, now has a counterpart in the South.
After an ocean voyage from France and a trip on the Southern from New Orleans to Birmingham, a 31foot-tall replica of the famous "Mother of Exiles" last month ended its travels at the top of the Liberty National Life Insurance Company's building in Birmingham-175 feet above the street.
The ten-ton lady's travels required planning every step of the way. On arrival at New Orleans, the statue in its water-tight steel shipping container was transferred from the "S. S. Velma Lykes" to a barge. At wharf side a floating crane gently set the steel crate on a Southern flat car .
Held by heavy-duty steel cables as it dangles more than 100 feet above the ground, Birmingham's new Miss Liberty is about to wind up a long journey (made partly over Southern) at the top of Liberty National Life Insurance Company's headquarters building. |
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Movement through the city of New Orleans was scheduled on a Sunday, to avoid traffic as much as possible. , Months earlier Southern had checked the 355-mile route from New Orleans to Birmingham to make sure the container's 13-foot width and 14~-foot height would have sufficient clearance. For an added margin of safety, the trip was made during daylight hours.
Uncrated and draped with a shielding cloth, the statue stood at last on the sidewalk in front of the Liberty National Building, awaiting the last stage of the journey-175 feet straight up.
Crowds gathered in the street for a 30-minute unveiling ceremony, complete with band music and appropriate speeches. They watched the statue rise slowly above their heads as the heavy-duty steel cables began the lift. A crew of 12 from Brice Building Company, manning a complex lifting apparatus, took almost an hour to raise the ten-ton statue to the roof.
Shortly after it landed at New Orleans on the first leg of its journey from France, the large steel crate bearing the statue was loaded onto a Southern Hat car to begin its trip to Birmingham. |
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Birmingham's Miss Liberty owes her present commanding position high above the city to an idea of Frank Samford, president of the insurance company. For years the company has used the Statue of Liberty in its advertising and on its policy contracts. In 1952, Mr. Samford suggested that a replica of the statue be placed atop the company's office building.
With the approval of the board of directors, the company commissioned a father-son team of American sculptors - Lee and Archer Lawrie - to make a plaster model. But production difficulties almost ended the project at that point. The biggest problem came in locating a firm that could or would cast the statue.
Finally, a metal-working firm at Sommervoire Haut Marne, France, consented to take on the project. Though the firm's principal business is the manufacture of cast iron pipe, it had previously cast a replica of the Statue of Liberty, one that now stands on a bridge over the Seine River in Paris.
Passing through Southern's Oliver Yard at New Orleans on its way north. Yard tower and offices are shown in the background. |
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Reports have it that when the statue was completed the French foundry was so pleased with the result that it staged a dedication ceremony at the plant before crating the regal lady for overseas shipment from the port of Dunkirk. Special chemicals were applied to the surface of the statue to give the replica as much as possible the appearance': of the weathered original.
Birmingham's Statue of Liberty is a bronze shell on a steel frame, one-fifth the size and less than a twentieth of the weight of the original. The torch in the right hand, glowing brightly 200 feet above the street, has a specially engineered gas-fired light with an electrical reignition system in case wind snuffs out the flame.
In comparison, the great statue on Liberty Island (called Bedloe's Island until two years ago) stands 151 feet, 1 inch in height and weighs 225 tons. Total cost of the statue (a gift from the people of France ) and the 154-foot pedestal on which it stands ( money raised by popular subscription in this country) was more than $500,000.