Statue of Liberty Congress officially renamed Bedloe's Island as Liberty Island, a change advocated by Bartholdi generations earlier. The act also mentioned the efforts to found an American Museum of Immigration on the island, which backers took as federal approval of the project, though the government was slow to grant funds for it. Nearby Ellis Island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument by proclamation of President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. In 1972, the immigration museum, in the statue's base, was finally opened in a ceremony led by President Richard Nixon. The museum's backers never provided it with an endowment
Bartholdi Park sustainable self-sustaining gardens. The centerpiece of the park, the Bartholdi fountain, was originally purchased by the United States government for $6,000 in 1877. Previously, the fountain had stood at Fairmount Park during the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. After its purchase, it was placed at the base of Capitol Hill until 1926. Following six years in storage after being removed from Capitol Hill, the fountain was moved to its current location in Bartholdi Park in 1932. In 2008 the fountain was temporarily removed from the park by the Architect of the Capitol for a complete restoration to repair deterioration of