In 1949, a Kansas City businessman decided he wanted to install as many as 200 small replicas of the Statue of Liberty in cities and towns across America.
Decades later, in 39 states and territories, they remain fixtures in courthouses, city halls and other civic buildings. Each one is a stamped-copper replica about 8 feet tall, often standing on a pedestal with a plaque dedicated to “the faith and courage of our forefathers.”
Guests wait for the rededication ceremony to begin Saturday at Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. Between 200 and 300 individual statues are scattered across the U.S., with Missouri having 25 of them.
They are called “the Liberty Sisters,” and Missouri has 25 of them — including one in Columbia that stands in the lobby of the Gentry Building at 1 S. Seventh St.
Boonville also has one, and Saturday, the Liberty Sister in front of the Cooper County Courthouse was the center of attention after being restored and returned to her spot near the entrance of the building.
A crowd of about 75 people dressed in patriotic costumes gathered outside the courthouse to see the renovated statue unveiled. Many were members of the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution who traveled across the state for the ceremony.
Ann Polsgrove spoke about the significance of the Liberty Sister statue during the rededication. She emphasized the importance of remembering the values the monument represents.
“As Americans, we understand the importance of democracy and freedom, and the great cost of that freedom,” she said.
MSSDAR State Historian Ann Polsgrove, left, and State Regent Lisa Parks thank Eastern District Commissioner Gary Kammerich and Western District Commissioner Danny Larm for attending the rededication ceremony on Saturday at Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. The rededication took two years of work in order to raise enough money and find someone qualified to restore the statue, according to Polsgrove.
Restoration of the Boonville statue was the work of Lisa Parks, the state regent for the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution.
Parks said she knew she wanted a project to coincide with the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday celebration. She spotted the statue on a trip to Boonville in 2022 and adopted it as a service project to match the organization’s goals of historic preservation and patriotism.
“It was just an ‘aha’ moment,” Parks said. “When I saw her, I knew that was going to be my project.”
Each regent is required to complete a project during her tenure in office.
“One of the hardest things as a state regent is figuring out what your project will be,” Parks said. “The second I saw her, I knew I was going to restore that statue.”
Although she knew little about the Liberty Sister statue when she chose it as her project, she studied the history of the monuments and the Boy Scout program that installed the one in Boonville and dozens of other sites in the U.S.
Tina Sellner stands in front of a renovated Liberty Sister statue on Saturday outside the Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. Missouri has 25 of the roughly 8-foot-tall stamped-copper replicas, the second highest amount of Liberty Sister statues in any state, falling only behind Kansas.
In 1950, the Boy Scouts of America took the Kansas City businessman’s idea and raised money to place the statues in communities that offered a home for them. As part of their “Crusade to Strengthen the Arm of Liberty,” local troops secured approximately $300 to purchase each statue.
Jack P. Whitaker, the Kansas City businessman and commissioner for the local Boy Scout council in the 1950s, was inspired after seeing a replica Statue of Liberty made of chicken wire and concrete in Spirit Lake, Iowa.
His campaign began just four years after the end of World War II and one year into the Cold War. John Fabsits, Columbia’s local scouting executive and CEO of the Scouting America Great Rivers Council, said it is important to consider the historical context surrounding the program and its symbolism.
“Obviously, a lot of troops were coming home, and there was a lot of patriotism out there,” Fabsits said. “At the same time, the Boy Scouts of America was celebrating its 40th anniversary. It was this notion of a liberty challenge for Scouts.”
The organization framed the program as a way to encourage civic responsibility and reinforce democratic values among young Americans. In an article announcing the initiative, Boy Scouts of America President Amory Houghton wrote: “Whether the future is to be one of freedom or despotism depends chiefly on how our young people develop.”
A guest at the ceremony holds the pamphlet and reads “The American’s Creed” during the ceremony Saturday at Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. The event was hosted by The Missouri State Society and Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Boonville statue was installed in 1951 and remains in relatively good condition, but it needed some help, Parks said. The most challenging aspect of the project was finding an artist with the expertise to properly restore it.
About six months after deciding to undertake the project, Parks found Vlad Zhitomirsky, a Ukrainian-born artist in St. Louis who traveled to Boonville last fall and took the statue home to restore.
One of the points on the statue’s crown was missing, and the tablet she holds in her left hand required extensive repair. Zhitomirsky restored both elements.
The statue’s wooden interior also needed reinforcement, so he applied a protective wax sealant to the exterior to help preserve it, Parks said.
Since learning about the statues, Parks has made a point of visiting them whenever possible.
“It’s kind of inspiring to see them,” she said. “They have a distinctive look, so you can recognize her when you see them. ‘Oh, there she is again, just like the one in my hometown.’ I wish there were more of them, and I hope other statues are getting cared for as we celebrate America 250.”
Columbia’s Liberty Sister is displayed in the lobby of the Gentry Building Friday on Seventh Street. The Columbia statute was dedicated in 1950, standing in front of the Howard Municipal Building until it was moved to to the Gentry Building in 1978.
The statue in Columbia was dedicated in 1950 and stood in front of the Howard Municipal Building on Tenth Street. It was rededicated in 1986 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York, according to a plaque displayed nearby.
Since 2007, the statue has been housed inside the Gentry Building lobby to help preserve it.
After 75 years, Fabsits said the local statues have become even more meaningful than the original project intended. They have become public art symbols that represent America’s values.
Eastern Commissioner Gary Kammerich, left, and MSSDAR State Historian Ann Polsgrove admire the Liberty Sister statue on Saturday at Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. “I just love the symbolism behind the Statue of Liberty,” Polsgrove said.
“We’re in our nation’s 250th anniversary, and you think about the Statue of Liberty itself, what it meant when it was received and what it has come to represent,” Fabsits said.
“Today, it reminds us of the immigrants who came to this country seeking opportunity and freedom and the ideals that continue to shape our nation,” he said.