On what date was New York’s Statue of Liberty dedicated as a symbol of American freedom?
Answer
October 28, 1886
New York’s Statue of Liberty was dedicated as a symbol of American freedom on October 28, 1886.
France gave the statue to the United States, and French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed it. Gustave Eiffel’s engineering team created the internal iron framework supporting the copper exterior. The monument stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.
President Grover Cleveland presided over the dedication ceremony. A large parade took place in New York City earlier that day, and the celebration helped establish the statue as a major national symbol.
The statue was not completed for the 1876 centennial of the Declaration of Independence, despite a common association between the monument and that anniversary. Its dedication came ten years later. The monument’s formal French name is Liberty Enlightening the World.