What event in 1916 caused damage to the Statue of Liberty?

The event that damaged the Statue of Liberty in 1916 was the Black Tom explosion.

On July 30, 1916, a munitions depot on Black Tom Island in Jersey City, New Jersey, exploded while storing ammunition destined for the Allies during World War I. The blast was later attributed to sabotage by German agents attempting to disrupt those shipments.

Black Tom lay close to Liberty Island, so the explosion shook the New York Harbor region, shattered windows across Manhattan and sent fragments into the Statue of Liberty. The statue suffered damage to its copper skin, skirt and raised right arm. The island was closed for ten days, and the torch-bearing arm required repairs.

The explosion also permanently changed public access: visitors have not been allowed inside the torch since the blast. The torch itself was replaced during the statue’s 1984–1986 restoration, when it was redesigned and covered with gold leaf. A common mix-up is Hurricane Sandy, which caused a later temporary closure in 2012 but did not cause the historic 1916 damage.