The Statue of Liberty was a gift of goodwill to the United States of America by France, shortly after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, when France itself, became a republic.

The Cornerstone of the structure was laid by Officers of the Grand Lodge of New York, with Masonic rites on August 5^th 1884.

Bro. Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, another Mason, designed the statue, which was completed in four years, and unveiled on August 28 1886.