Statue no longer a mystery

HELENA – The statue on top of Montana’s Capitol dome here has been called “Lady Liberty” for decades – but it turns out that’s not her name after all.

The 17-foot-tall statue that arrived at the Helena train station one day in the late 1890s with no records, no name and no explanation finally has a history, state historians said Wednesday.

The Montana Historical Society was recently contacted by a woman asking if her grandfather’s statue was still on the Capitol. Historians responded that they had no idea because no records existed on who sculpted it, how much was paid for it or why the design was chosen.

After looking over documents provided by Alice Nagle, of Hatfield, Pa., historians confirmed that her grandfather, Edward J. Van Landeghem, sculpted the copper-clad statue of a woman wearing robes and holding a torch.

She is no longer Lady Liberty, researchers said. Her proper name is simply Montana.

“You can’t imagine how exciting it is for something like this to come to light after wondering about it for so long and assuming we’d probably never know,” said Kirby Lambert, curator of art for the society.

The first Capitol commission was disbanded in 1897 after a scam was uncovered that diverted much of the Capitol’s projected $1 million price tag into the pockets of commission members. Before leaving their posts, one committed suicide and the others burned records that might incriminate them. After a new commission took over, the statue showed up at the Helena railroad depot, Lambert said. The new commission decided to use it, even though its origin, price, why it was chosen and even its name were mysteries.

Nagle, in a release from the Historical Society, said it was “amazing to learn that my grandfather’s art, which holds so much personal meaning to my family, is also a well-preserved and cherished Montana icon.”