The cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty was laid on this day in 1884 on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. The actual statue was built in France to be shipped to the United States, but the pedestal on which it would sit was a domestic matter. Funding for its construction was left to a group of committees in major U.S. cities., who began collecting funds in 1882. Two years later, it wasn’t going well.
Various fundraising attempts petered out. New York Gov. Grover Cleveland vetoed legislation that would allocate $50,000 to the project, and an effort in Congress to provide double that amount also failed. Other U.S. cities saw a window to serve as the saviors of the project. Groups in Boston, Philadelphia, and other major metro areas offered to fund the pedestal … but only if it was placed in their city, not New York.
That’s when rich guy and newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer stepped in. He launched a campaign to raise $100,000 using public donations, using his newspaper, the New York World, as a platform to draw public interest. Anyone who gave, no matter how much, would see their name in the paper, even if it was just a few cents.
By the time the statue parts arrived on a ship, the money was starting to pile up. Confident that they’d have enough scratch to get the project done, the cornerstone was laid. A week later, Pulitzer’s campaign ended, having collected $102,000.
