Another Manhattan church member, Mark Holden, made some connections with Bawden and "all the factors came together," Belnap said. "I don't know who put up the money for the statue. I have a good idea but I literally don't know. The cost is reputed to be about $300,000. There are some very generous individuals, mostly in Utah, who were interested in promoting it, and knowing we were willing participants it all came together."

Kim Wilson with the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation said the New York group "needed an entity and the financial support. It seemed like a really great idea." The foundation didn't do any specific fund raising for the project, he said, but used resources from its general fund.

"It's a wonderful tribute to the prophet on the 200th anniversary of his birth — to be honored by the largest city in the United States and in the state where the church was born." The LDS Church is growing rapidly in Manhattan, evidenced not only by the dedication of a temple there in 2004, but by the well-publicized opening of a large chapel in Harlem earlier this year.

The statue of Joseph Smith is in close proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge and South Street Seaport and is scheduled to remain in place at least until June 2006.

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