German Agents Almost Blew Up the Statue of Liberty
The highest point accessible to the public when visiting the Statue of Liberty today is its crown, but visitors used to be able to go up the statue’s upraised arm, until they reached its torch. That ended in 1916, when the first terror attack by a foreign cell on American soil damaged the statue, and rendered the torch inaccessible to the public ever since.
In the early 20th century, Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, just off the New Jersey shore, was one of the East Coast’s biggest munitions depots. When WWI started, its warehouses could barely keep up with the combatant’s orders for American munitions. While both sides could buy American munitions, only the Entente, whose navies controlled the sea lanes, were in a position to purchase and transport American munitions.
So the Germans sent secret agents and saboteurs to America, with orders to disrupt the delivery of munitions. On the night of July 30th, 1916, Black Tom Island had about two million pounds of artillery and small arms munitions in freight trains and barges. Sometime after midnight, guards noticed a series of small fires on the piers, and took to their heels, fearing an explosion.
At 2:08 AM, July 30th, 1916, a massive explosion hurtled debris for over a mile, shattered windows up to 25 miles distant, and caused about half a billion dollars in damages. The actual death toll is unknown, as there were many housing barges nearby, and many victims are thought to have been incinerated. The blast and debris struck the Statue of Liberty, popping rivets in its upraised arm holding the torch, and that part of the statue has been closed to the public ever since.