Help Restore Alki's Statue of Liberty
Preserve a Beloved Landmark
Alki’s little Statue of Liberty has had a surprisingly eventful life and needs the community’s help once more.
Originally installed in 1952 as a gift from the Seattle area Boy Scouts, as part of a national campaign with 200 sisters across the country, ours has transformed over the years along with West Seattle.
The original copper-clad statue suffered badly from saltwater exposure and vandalism. Her crown was damaged, her torch was stolen, and eventually her arm disappeared. In 1975 someone even attached a rope to her and used a car to pull her off her base.
Even still, after 9/11, Seattleites spontaneously gathered around our little statue. We left American flags, flowers, cards, photographs and other mementos at her base. (The Southwest Seattle Historical Society preserved and now displays those artifacts at the Log House Museum along with this original statue.)
Through community efforts, the statue we know now was recast in bronze in 2007 at a foundry in Tacoma. And in 2008, the surrounding Statue of Liberty Plaza was dedicated and the recast statue installed. That project involved substantial community fundraising, inscribed bricks, a time capsule, performances, and other events. The goal was to make the statue the center of a proper gathering place rather than simply putting her back on a pedestal in a park.
That pedestal is now in need of repair.
Cracks have appeared at the corner joints that will, according to the Seattle Parks Department, jeopardize the integrity of that pedestal and the safety of the Statue. The Alki Community Council is looking to raise $5,000 to repair and maintain the pedestal of our Alki Statue of Liberty. And we’re reaching out to you, our community, to help us preserve this unique part of Alki history. (Donations above that will replenish the long-term maintenance fund. )
Alki beach wasn't chosen randomly for the installation of our local Lady of Liberty. It’s the symbolic birthplace of modern Seattle. The Denny Party landed here in 1851 and the settlers initially called their settlement “New York-Alki,” alki being a Chinook word meaning roughly “by and by.” With that name they acknowledged that their arrival wasn't the beginning of human history at Alki. This area was, and remains, the traditional territory of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples, who have lived in this region for thousands of years.
That makes our little statue part of a rich tapestry of memory: settler history, indigenous history, American history, Cold War patriotism, and community remembrance have all become part of what she represents to us.
Please help us honor that legacy and contribute to the repair and maintenance of the foundation on which the Alki Statue of Liberty stands.
