1888 & 1986 in Austin:
The Goddess of Liberty's cold shoulder on the Capital City was finally fixed.
@fox7austin #txlege
You might not realize it, but for nearly a century, the most famous lady in the Austin skyline was actually looking the wrong way. When the original zinc Goddess was hoisted up in 1888, a bit of nineteenth-century "user error" resulted in her being bolted down with a skewed perspective. While she was intended to watch over the heart of the city, she spent 97 years staring off toward the horizon, essentially giving a cold shoulder to the very people she was meant to represent.
That historical "oops" wasn't corrected until the high-stakes airlift in 1986. After the National Guard finally won their battle with the wind and the rotor wash, they made sure the new aluminum replica was seated with a more southernly gaze. Today, when you look up from Congress Avenue, she is finally looking right back at you—a correction nearly a hundred years in the making that turned a silent sentinel into a true neighbor.