At the turn of the 20th century, Congress approved a restoration of USS Constitution, but the funding was left up to private means. In an attempt to raise the funds needed to restore USS Constitution, the Massachusetts Society of the United Daughters of the War of 1812 started a fundraiser, but they unfortunately could not raise enough money on their own. Then in 1903, the Massachusetts Historical Society’s president, Charles Francis Adams, petitioned Congress to appropriate the funds to revitalize USS Constitution and place her back into active service.
Two years later, the Secretary of the Navy, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, urged that USS Constitution be brought out into sea and used as target practice, at the end of which she would forever sink into the pits of the ocean. This proposition brought seas of protest, and even prompted an Armenian-American business man named Moses. H. Gulesian to make an offer of $10,000 for USS Constitution. His offer was denied, but Gulesian then started a grassroots campaign that stemmed from Boston but spilled into other areas of the country. These protests prompted Congress to appropriate $100,000 for USS Constitution’s restoration in 1906. In 1907, she started service as a museum ship with public tours open to the public. On Decemeber 1, 1917 she was renamed Old Constitution, in order to free the name up for a new battle cruiser. However, Old Constitution was given a return to her name by July 24, 1925.
The Board of Inspection and Surveys’ report on USS Constitution in 1924 determined that she was in very poor condition. So poor, that her stern was near falling off, and water had to pumped out of her on a daily basis in order to keep her afloat. Every crevice of her deck and structural components were rotten, and she was nearly in total ruins. The estimated cost to repair the USS Constitution back to acceptable standards was around $400,000. Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy, proposed to Congress that the funds needed to fix her be raised privately yet again, and he became responsible for the committee charged with USS Constitutions restoration. The first program was sponsored by the national Elks Lodge, and set about encouraging school children to give pennies toward the restoration of Old Ironsides, and managed to raise $148,000. Despite this, the estimates for USS Constitution’s restoration continued to climb, exceeding $745,000 once the material cost was figured in. To keep up with the skyrocketing cost, Wilbur began selling paintings of USS Constitution at 50 cents per copy, and a silent film entitled Old Ironsides premiered in December 1926. Furthermore, making memorabilia out of her old planking in metal held bring in over $600,000. Congress then appropriated up to $300,000 to complete the restoration, which ended up costing $946,000.
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