Battery Park in Manhattan in New York County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island
Heritage Trails New York
Photographed By Larry Gertner, November 1999
1. Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Marker
Statue of Liberty
Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, engineer
Richard Morris Hunt, architect of base, 1871-86
Ellis Island
Boring and Tilton, architects
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are national monuments of transcendent importance, fraternal twins celebrating America’s immigrant history. The Statue of Liberty offers the ideal: the welcome extended to “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free” immortalized in Emma Lazarus’s poem, chiseled in its base. Ellis Island offers the real: the gritty, difficult, miraculous place where millions of immigrants from all corners of the globe entered the New World. Today, one hundred million Americans can trace some part of their family history through Ellis Island. From 1892 to 1953, as many as ten thousand immigrants in a day, some 12 million in all, exhausted from weeks of ocean travel in often hideous conditions, lined up for the inspection that determined whether they would enter the New World – or be sent back home. Both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island’s main building have been stunningly restored, thanks to the vision of the National Parks Service, and the fundraising efforts of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.
Erected by Heritage Trails
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Immigration • Landmarks. A significant historical year for this entry is 1892.
Location. Marker has been reported missing. It was located near 40° 42.289′ N, 74° 1.023′ W. Marker was in Manhattan, New York, in New York County. It was in Battery Park. Marker could be reached from Battery Place near West Street, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: New York NY 10004, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location. History of New Pier 1 (within shouting distance of this marker); History of Pier A (within shouting distance of this marker); In Honor of Peter Caesar Alberti (within shouting distance of this marker); Giovanni Da Verrazzano (within shouting distance of this marker); New York Korean War Veterans Memorial (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); a different marker also named New York Korean War Veterans Memorial (about 300 feet away); Walloon Settlers (about 300 feet away); American Merchant Mariners' Memorial (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Manhattan.
More about this marker. This is one of the earlier-style Heritage Trails marker that dated back to the mid-1990s,
Photographed By Larry Gertner, October 10, 2015
2. Inset
The French held a lottery to raise money for the statue, the prizes including silver, jewelry, and a painting and a statue by Bartholdi. In America, to cover the costs of the base, fundraisers targeted the wealthy, but with an embarrassing lack of success. At the last minute, with the effort woefully behind schedule, publisher Joseph Pulitzer orchestrated a campaign to raise money from Americans from all walks of life. He encouraged donations from farmers, laborers and even school children by printing names of each and every contributor – in the end over 120,000 people – in the pages of his World newspaper, and in doing so raised in excess of $100,000. A hundred years later, following up on Pulitzer’s strategy, the Ellis Island restoration encourage donations by listing the names of donors’ immigrant ancestors on the American Immigrant Walk of Fame.
This entry was made for archival purposes.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, October 10, 2015
3. Inset
Rising 150 feet above a 150-foot tall base on its own island, fabricated from 100 tons of copper hammered out to the thickness of 3/32 of an inch and spread over 125 tons of steel, shipped across the Atlantic in 214 packing crates, the Statue of Liberty holds out her torch of welcome at the entrance to New York Harbor. A gift from France to America on our hundredth birthday in 1876, the statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World” originally represented the joint French and American struggle for democracy. French sculptor Bartholdi’s life work was made possible by the engineering genius of Gustave Eiffel, creator of the Eiffel Tower.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, October 1998
4. The Statue of Liberty ferry
Back when it was still run by the Circle Line
Photographed By Larry Gertner, October 10, 2015
5. Inset
The "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" included both sets of grandparents.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, 1998
6. Liberty Island and Ellis Island from Battery Park
Credits. This page was last revised on July 19, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 12, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. This page has been viewed 166 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on April 12, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
