The Arm of Liberty
Lisa Parks decided that before her term was to end in 2026 as the Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution State Regent, she wanted to raise funds for a meaningful project. This project turned out to be restoring the Liberty Sister statue in Boonville.
“I knew that America 250 would be part of my term, and I saw the Liberty Sister statue in front of the Cooper County Courthouse, and I thought, that’s it,” Lisa says. “She’s been sitting outside since 1951, so she needed some help.”
The Liberty Sister statues are similar but not exact miniatures of the Statue of Liberty. J.P. Whitaker, the Commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council in Missouri for the Boy Scouts of America, came up with the idea for the Liberty Sisters in 1949. His goal was to remind Americans of how precious their freedom is. “They had a crusade to ‘strengthen the arm of liberty,’ ” Lisa says.
Although the Boy Scouts were the primary group installing the statues, some were installed by private donors, like the one in Boonville donated by the Wolfner family.
The company that restored the Boonville statue, repairing and repolishing the pitted metal, was VMD Sculpting, based in Soulard in St. Louis and run by sculptor Vlad Zhitomirsky.
When Vlad immigrated from Ukraine to the United States in the early 1990s, he observed “a country that makes a conscious effort to preserve its past,” and he notes that “organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution are deeply committed to that mission.”
This project was special for Vlad. “As an immigrant, the Statue of Liberty is deeply personal to me. It represents the opportunity and freedom that brought me here. And here I was, entrusted with restoring that symbol for an American community.”
The statue in Boonville is one of 200 within 29 states across the country. Twenty-five Liberty Sisters were installed in Missouri between 1949 and 1952, and 22 of them remain intact.
Lisa likes to go on “scavenger hunts” when she travels to other states to find the Liberty Sisters. She says they tend to be in city parks, in front of courthouses, or on school grounds, and they are each accompanied by a plaque from the Boy Scouts of America.
Liberty Sisters in Our State
Boonville • Cooper County Courthouse
Butler • Butler Elementary
Cape Girardeau • Capaha Park
Columbia • Gentry Building
Concordia • Central Park
Independence • Midwest Genealogy Center
Jefferson City • Missouri State Capitol
Kansas City • Meyer Boulevard & Prospect Avenue
Kansas City • North Kansas City High School
Lamar • Barton County Courthouse
Lexington • Lafayette County Courthouse
Liberty • Franklin Elementary
Maldon • Malden Elementary
Marshall • Indian Foothills Park
Memphis • Scotland County Courthouse
Mexico • Audrain County Courthouse
Osceola • H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation
Salisbury • Salisbury City Park
Sedalia • Pettis County Courthouse
Slater • Slater High School
Springfield • Greene County Courthouse
St. Joseph • Fort Smith Park
This article was originally printed in the July/August 2026 issue of Missouri Life.
