Photo by Bhamonline
Birmingham, Alabama
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Photo by Bhamonline |
Statue of Liberty Birmingham, Alabama |
| Birmingham's Statue of Liberty is visible to motorists driving on the southern outskirts of Birmingham on the Interstate 459 bypass. Located in a commercial development, Liberty Park, the statue is lighted at night and her flame burns continuously. A partial excerpt from a plaque at the site: "A bronze replica, one-fifth the size of the Statue of Liberty, was commissioned by Frank Park Samford as the symbol for the company he founded, Liberty National Life Insurance Company. Created by sculptors Archer and Lee Lawrie, the statue was cast in Sommerville Haut Marine, France, in 1956 and was placed atop Liberty National's home office building in downtown Birmingham and then moved to its present location and dedicated on July 4, 1989." (Torchmark Corporation)  From the Montgomery Adviser:Lifestyle - Dec. 12, 2002, Montgomery, Alabama By Rick Harmon, Montgomery Advertiser DESTINATION: BIRMINGHAM'S STATUE OF LIBERTY Let Freedom Ring "Give us your tired, your poor, your insurance business" -- well, maybe the ideals behind Birmingham's Statue of Liberty weren't quite as lofty as the one in New York, but Birmingham's is still pretty spectacular. There are many models of the Statue of Liberty throughout the U.S. and the world, but this one, originally a fixture on the Liberty National Insurance company in downtown Birmingham, is one of the largest in the world. In some ways you have to feel sorry for the lady who carries a torch but has to play second fiddle. Birmingham is probably the only city in Alabama in which the statue would be the "other" statue. (For now, it is temporarily the statue while Vulcan is being repaired.) Like the original, Birmingham's Statue of Liberty came from France, although that wasn't the original intention. In 1951 Frank P. Sanford Sr., the president of Liberty National Insurance Co., decided to take out some business insurance of his own. He decided what his company needed was a symbol that would implant his company's name in the mind of anyone who saw it. He had two American sculptors, a father and son, work for four years to create a replica of New York's famous statue, a very large replica. In fact, it was so large -- standing 31 feet tall and weighing 10 tons -- that no U.S. foundry could cast it, at least not for a price the company was willing to pay. Instead, like the original, this Statue of Liberty was cast in France. It was cast by the same foundry that did one of the many smaller replicas, which is in Paris, by the Seine River. On Sept. 13, 1958, with much fanfare, it was placed atop the Liberty National building on 20th Street South in downtown Birmingham, where it stood for a little more than 30 years. In 1988, the statue was moved to its new home -- fittingly, in Liberty Park, off Interstate 459. With the Birmingham Area Boy Scout headquarters as its neighbor, the statue shines, literally. Its torch, powered by Alabama gas, has only gone out twice in its history. |
Birmingham OnlineMontgomery Adviser
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