Life in NYC during the federal government shutdown has felt mostly like business as usual, but a few things have changed. The most widely felt effect may be the closing of national parks and monuments, meaning New Yorkers and visitors can’t visit the Governors Island National Monument, Hamilton Grange, or, most notably, the Statue of Liberty.
But across the East River from that majestic lady, in a parking lot behind the Brooklyn Museum, lies her scrappy, homely little sister. Yes, Brooklyn’s 47-foot-tall mini Statue of Liberty is alive and well, and open for business, welcoming all who venture into the museum’s lot.
The NYT explains the lady’s backstory:
The statue was cast out of iron and steel in either Ohio or Pennsylvania in the late 1800s for a Russian auctioneer named William H. Flattau, who wanted it to stand atop his eight-story Liberty Warehouse on the Upper West Side. When it was installed in 1902, it was one of the highest points in the neighborhood, according to the museum.
In 2002, a developer bought that UWS building and donated the statue to the museum, and there she’s stood ever since.
(Photo: agent j loves nyc/Flickr)
