![Atop Empire State- in construction; Chrysler Bldg & [Daily] News in middle foreground. (1931)](http://www.retronaut.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Atop-Empire-State-in-construction-Chrysler-Bldg-Daily-News-in-middle-foreground.-1931--199x123.jpg "Balancing on the Empire State, 1920s")
‘The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty in Madison Square Park, New York. These portions of the Statue were exhibited to raise funds for the completion of the statue and its pedestal. The arm and torch remained in the park from 1876 until 1882.
‘Members of the public could pay fifty cents to climb to the balcony of the torch.’
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Thank you to Please Touch Museum and Robs Webstek
The center and bottom photo are clearly in Madison Square Park (I live nearby). But the top photo cannot be. Notice that the trees flanking the structure that supports the arm are not present in the top photo. Also, Madison Square Park is very small, and there has never been a lake or pond in it.
It looks more like Central Park or Coney Island, judging by the architecture.
Here is a real estate map of the MSP area from 1853.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Madison_Square_1853_real_estate_map.jpg
The top photo is not from Madison Square Park. It is from the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Collossal_hand_and_torch._Bartholdi%27s_statue_of_%22Liberty.%22,_from_Robert_N._Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views.jpg and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition