Nearing 60, Lady Liberty stands where big orange once loomed

Sometimes extremely visible parts of our landscape become almost invisible to our eyes, as we drive past them daily. Over many seasons and many years, we tend to take our landmarks for granted.

Orlando's miniature Statue of Liberty offers just one example. Perched on a pedestal across from Lake Ivanhoe, Lady Liberty holds her torch aloft as drivers zoom by her on their way to Interstate 4.

She stands at North Magnolia and North Orange avenues and gets noticed mostly during the pro basketball season, when she's occasionally adorned in an Orlando Magic jersey.

But the statue didn't escape the curiosity of reader Patricia Lockwood of Orlando. It's been there ever since she could remember, Lockwood wrote in a recent email 20 years at least, she thought.

"When was it put there?" Lockwood asked. How did it come about?

Looking good at almost 60

Part of the story appears on a plaque near the statue, and it was fun to find other tidbits in Sentinel files and in Steve Rajtar's "Guide to Historic Orlando" (The History Press, 2006).

Our Lady Liberty, all 8 feet 4 inches of her, has watched over her busy intersection for almost 60 years. She was dedicated Nov. 11, 1953 years before Interstate 4 came through Orlando in the early 1960s.

The statue was one of about 200 such replicas installed across the nation in the 1950s through a Boy Scout program called "Strengthening the Arm of Liberty," Rajtar writes. The program was part of the Scouts' 40th anniversary celebrations.

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Nearing 60, Lady Liberty stands where big orange once loomed