Bringing light to the county
Staff writer
A lawn on 170th Rd. just west of US-77 is graced by a model of the Statue of Liberty.
Unlike many other models found across the country, the statue is made of aluminum instead of copper and holds a light globe, not a torch, in its hand.
Owner Roger Nurnberg hasn’t run electric service to the statue, so it doesn’t cast light at night.
Since aluminum does not oxidize green the way copper does, Nurnberg painted the statue green.
He placed the statue on his lawn, where it can be seen from 170th Rd., after he moved to rural Marion 18 years ago.
He’s owned the statue for nearly 30 years. He bought it when he ran a small presidential museum in Wichita. Because the cost of running the museum was exorbitant, it was short-lived.
Nurnberg says he never throws anything away. He might reopen the museum someday but the likely location would be Emporia, where he is restoring a century-old house.
Nurnberg also is a grassroots artist. He has several creations visible from US-77. Atop a silo at the rear of his property are small turbines that produce electricity. East of an old dairy barn are several taller turbines mounted on poles. They also produce electricity.
Windmills east of the barn were positioned like Stonehenge, Nurnberg said.
Electricity produced powers a lighted MAGA sign mounted on the side of the dairy barn.
Next to the sign is a Ferris wheel he’s still working on. It won’t carry riders up and down, but when completed, it also will have lights.
Hillsboro also has an 8-foot-tall model of the statue of Liberty located in Memorial Park near the American Legion post.
The copper statue in Hillsboro is one of about 200 sold by Boy Scouts of America between 1949 and 1952 as part of the Scouts’ “Strengthening the Arm of Liberty” campaign celebrating 40 years of Scouting.
Those statues were manufactured by Chicago-based Friedley-Voshardt Co. and made available through the Kansas City Boy Scouts office. The idea for the program came from Jack Whitaker, then scout commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council.
Often called “Little Sisters of Liberty,” most were installed on public property, but some have deteriorated or been removed.