Boston And Philadelphia Were Also Contenders For Lady Liberty

While the Statue of Liberty is certainly the most recognizable landmark in New York, the French sculptor behind the figure had other ideas for where she could stand.

Author Elizabeth Mitchell spoke with HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri about her new book Liberty's Torch, which delves deep into the history of the statue. She explained that French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi also had Philadelphia and Boston in mind after he was frustrated with New York for not "anteing up" the money for Lady Liberty.

"At one point, [Bartholdi] stirred up a rivalry with Philadelphia and so he said, 'You know, I'm thinking it's going to go there instead,' and New Yorkers were like, 'No way,''" Mitchell explained.

Bartholdi also turned to none other than one of New York's biggest rivals, Boston, thinking the river could be a good location.

"There were funny things in the paper where people say, 'You know, we may not care about that statue one wit, but it's not going to Boston. Over our dead bodies,'" Mitchell said.

Watch the full conversation with author Elizabeth Mitchell below: