![statue of liberty as seen from the ferry](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/07/BFB_Statue_0641.jpg)
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1865: French historian Edouard de Laboulaye suggests that France create a statue to give to the United States to celebrate its success in building a democracy.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/BFB_Statue_0641.jpg)
1870: The French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi begins sketching the Statue of Liberty.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/Bartholdi_newyork.jpg)
1878: Statue’s head and shoulders are completed and displayed at the Paris Universal Exposition.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/BFB_Statue_0718-1.jpg)
1885: Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City from France.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/BFB_Statue_0626.jpg)
1886: President Grover Cleveland officially dedicates the Statue of Liberty at a ceremony.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/EdwardMoran-UnveilingTheStatueofLiberty1886Large.jpg)
1892: The U.S. government opens an immigration station on Ellis Island.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/ellisisland-36.jpg)
1903: The poem “The New Colussus” by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) is inscribed at the base of the statue.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/statue-pedestal.jpg)
2011: 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
![](https://www.exp1.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/immigration-main-hall.jpg)