The "Little Sisters of Liberty" and the Kansas City Scouting Connection

Starting on the Fourth of July, the Statue of Liberty in New York, which has been closed to visitors above its base since the September 11th terrorist attacks, will be reopened. Kansas City, and particularly the Boy Scouts in Kansas City, have an interesting connection to the Statue of Liberty through the “little Sisters of Liberty.”

In 1950, to commemorate 40 years of Boy Scouting in the United States, Jack F. Whitaker, a Kansas City, Missouri businessman and council commissioner for our local Boy Scout council at the time, launched a program to erect copper statues, known as "little Sisters of Liberty". Mr. Whitaker originated this project after seeing a dedication of a Statue of Liberty replica made of chicken wire and concrete in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

Between 1949 and 1952, in towns across America, Boy Scouts dedicated more than 200 of the 8½ foot copper statues to emphasize Scouting’s 40th anniversary theme "Strengthen the Arm of Liberty." These statues were located on capitol grounds, courthouse lawns, and main streets; in city parks, schoolyards and libraries and at Boy Scout Camps.

Mr. Whitaker paid $3,500.00 to have an original mold made for the Statues and Friedley-Voshardt Company in Chicago made the stamped copper replicas. Each statue contained more than 40 sheets of copper about the thickness of a nickel and sold for $300 to $350 to Scout troops who presented them to cities and towns in 39 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone and the Philippines.

There are approximately 6 of these statues in the Kansas City area and one at the Bartle Scout Reservation.  One statue that has recently been restored is located at the Midwest Genealogy Center, 3440 South Lee’s Summit Road in Independence, MO. This statue was rededicated on June 21, 2008 and members of Cub Scout Pack 865 of St. Mark’s Catholic Church were involved in the ceremony.

As you celebrate the Fourth of July weekend, keep in mind the significance of the holiday and check out Scouting's connection to the Lady of Liberty on Ellis Island.

To find the location of several of the little Sisters of Liberty in our area and to learn more about these statues you can click here.  

Or click here to read a 2007 Scouting magazine story about the little Sisters of Liberty.