Wednesday marks 140 years since the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, since becoming one of the most iconic landmarks in the world.
But Lady Liberty could have suffered a very different fate more than 40 years ago.
“If this renovation hadn’t been done, there was a possibility [that] it could have been a catastrophic collapse,” Peter Lehrer, who helped lead the ambitious project to restore the Statue of Liberty, said.
At the time, Lehrer was just a few years into launching a construction company. His firm was awarded the contract to restore and repair Lady Liberty in the lead up to 1986, which marked 100 years since its dedication.
“We knew [that] if we screwed it up, that would be the end of our business,” Lehrer recalled.
He said that there were a lot of restrictions on how to go about repairing the Statue of Liberty, which meant that they had to get creative.
“There was no plan. There was no book. There was no one who told us how to do it,” he said. “We just had to figure it out as we went.”
The scaffolding could not touch the landmark. It was built all around her. The reason? High winds could cause the scaffolding to damage the statue, according to Lehrer.
They used liquid nitrogen inside the statue to remove a layer of paint, and baking soda took care of the tar behind that paint, which was water-damaged from over the years.
There were 1,700 steel bars inside the statue meant to stabilize her, but they had deteriorated over time.
Lehrer said they built effectively a small factory on the island, taking out three bars at a time to not destabilize Lady Liberty. They had to heat the steel to mold it to make exact replicas for each bar being replaced.
On Oct. 28, 1986, President Ronald Reagan came to New York City to help light the new torch on the Statue of Liberty
“We too dare to hope, hope that our children will always find here the land of liberty in a land that is free,” he said at the time.
Lehrer said that out of all the construction projects, the work on the Statue of Liberty is what he is most proud of.
About 12 million immigrants passed the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island between 1894 and 1952, according to the National Park Service.
One of those people was Lehrer’s dad. He immigrated from Germany more than 100 years ago.
“When my father came to this country in 1913, that’s the first thing he saw, was this statue,” Lehrer said.
And after his work was complete in 1986, Lehrer said he took his dad to see the Statue of Liberty.
“I think he was very proud,” Lehrer said.
She’s anchored New York City for 140 years.
With the help of at least one immigrant’s child, the Statue of Liberty can stand tall for many years to come.