Happy 125th Birthday, Lady Liberty!

Turns out this is a big week for New Yorker birthdays (I’ve always sort of thought that Lady Lib and the GWB were having a torrid affair… Maybe it’s just that they’re both Scorpios?)

Regal Lady Liberty has quite sweet origins: she was given to the people of the US as a gift of friendship from the people of France. Awwww!

After making the trip across the Atlantic, she was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The dedication was attended by POTUS Glover Cleveland. The celebration afterwards included the US’s first ticker-tape parade.

Our Lady, formerly known as “Liberty Enlightening the World” celebrated her 125th with the naturalization of 40 citizens, an appearance by Sigourney Weaver, and renditions of both “Star Spangled Banner” and “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem. Sounds like a party!