Originally known as the Liberty Enlightening the World, the 151-foot high statue rises above a stone and concrete pedestal which in turns sits atop the star-shaped rampart of Fort Wood, one of the early defenses of New York Harbor. In total, the top of the torch is 305 feet above the ground. When the statue briefly functioned as a lighthouse from 1886 to 1902, its torch could be seen as far as 24 miles away at sea.

The idea of erecting a Statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York Harbor to commemorate Franco-American friendship was conceived by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi while visiting the United States in 1871. He chose a method of construction consisting of hard-hammered copper sections supported by an iron framework. This method permitted a lighter statue and allowed more artistic opportunities.

The Statue was fabricated and first erected by the firm of Gadget, Gauhier, & Cie in Paris. The hand and torch were exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, and the head was displayed at the Paris Exhibition in 1878. Later, the disassembled statue was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States in some 350 individual pieces.

ASCE was involved in the the restoration of the Statue of Liberty from 1984-1986 before its centennial. President Ronald Regan officially relit the torch on July 3, 1986, kicking off a four-day celebration of the statue's 100th anniversary.

Alexandre-Gusteve Eiffel, the most famous French engineer of the time, was engaged to design the iron framework, or armature. Eiffel is known for his design of several important railway bridges in Europe, and later for the world famous Eiffel Tower constructed for the Paris Exhibition in 1890. The iron framework (which had to be designed for wind loadings, differential expansion and contraction of iron and copper, and electrolysis effects) supports the entire copper skin. Thus the statue was among the first examples of curtain wall construction, the same system that made the skyscraper possible a few years later.

The design and construction of the pedestal was the responsibility of the Americans. Richard Morris Hunt, an eminent American architect of the time (the distinction between architect and engineer was less pronounced than it is now) served as the designer of the pedestal, while construction of the pedestral fell under the supervision of General Charles P. Stone, and American engineer. The pedestal's foundation is a massive concrete block which was the largest single mass of concrete ever built at the time. Its construction stimulated the use of concrete as a building material in the United States.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in October 1886 and was restored for its centennial in 1986. While a largely symbolic structure, the design and construction of the Statue of Liberty involved many unique engineering challenges. As stated earlier, it was an early example of curtain wall construction, a method of construction copied in 1885 for the first skyscraper, and still used today, and the massive concrete foundation revived interest in the use of this material in many different types of structures.

Dan Barge (ASCE President), Mike Skelly (ASCE Met Section President), Jim O'Brien (ASCE New Jersey Section President-Elect, and Ed Cohen (Ammann & Whitney) display the 1987 ASCE Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award for the Restoration of the Statue of Liberty.

Between 1984 and 1986, an extensive restoration of the Statue of Liberty was undertaken before its centennial anniversary. Much of the iron framework inside the statue was replaced with steel members. New diagonal bracing was added in the arm of the statue to correct its structural stability and the original torch was replaced with a replica to prevent leaks. Additionally, ASCE prepared a complete set of CADD generated drawings of the statue that were donated to the National Parks Service. The original drawings of the statue had been destroyed in a fire in Paris at the turn of the century.

On September 9, 1987, the Metropolitan and New Jersey Sections served as joint hosts for the dedication of the Restoration of the Statue of Liberty as the 1987 ASCE Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award. Over 100 people attended the dedication statue at the Statue which was followed by a tour of the Statue and a luncheon which was held on Governor's Island. ASCE President Dan Barge presided over the ceremony at the Statue. The Statue of Liberty was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by ASCE in 1985.