Alumina Lady – The Story of Texas’ Own Goddess of Liberty

By Grant Hackney, Vision Historic Preservation Foundation Historical Committee

 It’s a chilly day in late February 1888. On the lawn of the nearly completed new State Capitol building of Texas in Austin, a group of craftsmen, committee members, and socialites gathers for a picture. Brought together from all over the state and the nation, from all different walks of life, it is a moment of achievement and pride. The source of their pride is the imposing Goddess of Liberty statue standing resolutely in their midst, ready to take her place atop the newly birthed granite edifice, and serve a beacon of liberty to all those who live and immigrate to the state of new hopes and dreams.

A few weeks later, the crews utilized derricks, scaffolding, and winches to painstakingly hoist the cast zinc statue in several different pieces to her new view, overlooking Congress Avenue, the Colorado River, and an ever-growing Austin. There, for almost 100 years, she would keep a watchful eye, observing the state’s triumphs and tragedies; the birth of a new university, the 1900 Galveston hurricane, a Great War, a Great Depression, a Second World War, mankind’s first steps on the moon, a presidential assassination, and the Civil Rights Movement, set to the soundtrack of Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

After 97 years of holding the Lone Star aloft, her arms began to tire. In the 1980s, when workers renovating the State Capitol building in the 1980s discovered deterioration and cracks in her base and structure. Her citizens knew that the time had come to relieve her of her faithful duties. On November 24th 1985, the Texas National Guard used a Chinook CH-47 helicopter to carefully hoisted the 3,000-pound statute off of the top of the Capitol building to the grounds below. There, a throng of enthused Texans visited her over the next three days, before she was transported to the American Art Foundry in Rhome, Texas for repairs.

The task to find the means and methods of finding the aging Goddess of Liberty’s replacement began in earnest, and soon one plan emerged at the forefront of the others. Harold “Hal” Reagan, ALCOA’s Texas Affairs Manager, together with the chairman of the Capitol Committee, George Bristol, hatched a plan as Texan as Texas herself.

What could be bigger, better, and more Texan than casting the statue from aluminum dug from her own ground, forged and birthed in her own towns by her own citizens? The cornerstone of the world’s aluminum production, ALCOA was strategically suited for just this enterprise; it had operations in Palestine, Point Comfort, and Rockdale – its largest smelter. It was the clearest choice, and the most Texan of solutions.

A full-scale correspondence between ALCOA and state leaders commenced, and after a flurry of communications and careful planning, Governor Mark White announced in January of 1986 that the State of Texas had accepted ALCOA’s proposed grant of $118,000 dollars to kickstart the project, along with their provision of up to 6,000 pounds of Texas refined aluminum for the statue’s creation, and the wheels were set in motion on the project in earnest. The corporations of Coca-Cola, Burlington Northern, and Safeway made contributions; Safeway created an aluminum drive to help defray the remaining cost of the statue’s creation. Kappa Alpha Fraternity and Alpha Kappa Sorority donated countless hours of service to the project. Even the state’s school children chipped in, donating their precious quarters a little bit at a time. ALCOA also made the executive decision to utilize some high-quality recycled aluminum in the statue, to reenforce the point that ALCOA and the State of Texas were dedicated to conservation and careful stewardship of all resources, for generations to come.

The project direction was awarded to Washington University Technology Associates (WUTA), in St. Louis Missouri. The fabrication of the new statue was awarded to the American Art Foundry in Rhome Texas, and Dellray Foundry in Houston Texas. Under the watchful eye of Capitol chief architect Roy Graham, AIA, and the project director, sculptor Ben Woitena, 48 new molds were created with painstaking accuracy from the original statue.  Expert metallurgical guidance and technical data were provided at each step of the way by ALCOA’s chief metallurgist Grant Owens, and by E.L. Rooy.

In May of 1986, the completed statue, resplendent in a sparkling white coat of paint, and a 23-karat gilded star lifted high, made a state tour on her way to Austin, much to the delight of the citizens of the six cities she stopped in.

Installation was slated for May 31st, 1986. The same Texas National Guard helicopter crew that had removed the original statue, under the command of Colonel Purtle, attempted the installation. However, high crosswinds and a lack of proper winching equipment frustrated their efforts, even though they tried the next day. Thinking outside the box, Colonel Purtle phoned the Mississippi National Guard, and asked for the loan of a CH-54A Skycrane helicopter, specifically designed for precision load handling. Our fellow statesmen of Mississippi were only too happy to help, and on June 14th, 1986, the new Goddess of Liberty gracefully descended to her resting spot atop the newly renovated State Capitol.

There she remains, until this day, and for generations to come.

If you’ve been in Rockdale any length of time, you may have worked at ALCOA, know someone who worked there, or have connections to people who have. Countless hours from many proud Texans are forged in the folds of her aluminum gown, due in large part to Hal Reagan, many Rockdale and area residents past and present, and the other groups of Texans who thoughtfully crafted her with dedication and exacting workmanship. Mined in Texas, forged in Texas, crafted in Texas, she stands and watches, for Texas.

Rockdale is deep in the heart of Texas. One might say that with the golden star that glistens in her hand in the bright Texas sun, she holds the heart of Rockdale highest.