Statue of Liberty - Birmingham, Alabama
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 33° 31.276 W 086° 48.559
16S E 517707 N 3709093
This replica Statue of Liberty in Linn Park in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, is probably one of the Boy Scout ones sold in the early 1950s.
Waymark Code: WMEC8T
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 05/06/2012
Views: 9
As one goes to the east side of Linn Park, one finds the Jefferson County Courthouse. On the grass in front of the building is a replica Statue of Liberty, about 8 feet in height. It appears to be made of metal that has aged over the years. Unfortunately, there is no identification sign, so I had to do some research. There is a lot of information about the large statue south of Birmingham, but not this one. It was not until I found a Boy Scout troop web site with a photo of one of the Boy Scout statues that seems to match this one that convinced me as to what this is.
Some general information from Wikipedia (
visit link)
"The Boy Scouts of America celebrated their fortieth anniversary in 1950 with the theme of "Strengthen the Arm of Liberty". Between 1949 and 1952, approximately two hundred 100-inch (2.5 m) replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper, were purchased by Boy Scout troops and donated in 39 states in the U.S. and several of its possessions and territories. The project was the brainchild of Kansas City businessman J.P. Whitaker, who was then Scout Commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council. The copper statues were manufactured by Friedley-Voshardt Co. (Chicago, Illinois) and purchased through the Kansas City Boy Scout office by those wanting one. The statues are approximately 8½ feet (2.6 m) tall without the base, are constructed of sheet copper, weigh 290 pounds (130 kg), and originally cost $350 plus freight. The mass-produced statues are not great art nor meticulously accurate (a conservator notes that "her face isn't as mature as the real Liberty. It's rounder and more like a little girl's"), but they are cherished, particularly since 9/11. Many have been lost or destroyed, but preservationists have been able to account for about a hundred of them, and BSA Troop 101 of Cheyenne, Wyoming, has collected photographs of over 100 of them."
I followed their footnote link to the BSA Troop 101 page at (
visit link) There they have a photo of this replica listed with a Birmingham, Alabama, caption. The address list below the photos places the statue in Liberty Park, but further research shows that the one at that address is over 30 feet high and was purchased for a local insurance company. That statue is a waymark (WM25GR).