Who Paid for the Statue of Liberty?

Watching the upbeat news reports over the weekend about the reopening of the crown of the Statue of Liberty, one would never know that Lady Liberty faced a long series of financial problems that nearly prevented her from ever holding her torch above the harbor in New York City.

The question of who actually paid for the statue has two sets of answers, one on each side of the Atlantic. And the efforts to raise money for the statue included some odd twists and turns, including even a lottery based in Paris.

In New York, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, outraged by American apathy regarding the statue, organized a fund drive that inspired American schoolchildren to donate pennies.

It took years of hard work, crafty public relations, and some outright scheming, but the money was raised and the Statue of Liberty herself finally arose in 1886.

Image: Publisher Joseph Pulitzer/courtesy Library of Congress