Liberty Bell

Among the more obscure events in American history involves the Liberty Bell's

travels by rail car around the United States to be placed on exhibit at numerous World's

Fairs. From 1885 to 1915, the Liberty Bell traveled by rail on seven separate trips to eight

different World's Fair exhibitions visiting nearly 400 cities and towns on those trips coast

to coast.

At the time, the Liberty Bell's trips were widely publicized so that each town

where the Liberty Bell train stopped was well prepared for their venerable guest. Each

stop on the way to the host World's Fair exhibition lasted anywhere from a few minutes to

a couple of hours. The Liberty Bell was nearly always met with military salutes, parades,

patriotic music and throngs of cheering men, women and children.

In 1873, Philadelphian Henry Seybert donated to the City of Philadelphia a

new bell and a large clock for tower of Independence Hall. Seybert commissioned the

Meneely and Kimberly Bell Foundry to cast the bell and have it installed in the steeple by

July 4, 1876 in time to usher in the Centennial anniversary celebration.

The bell was cast using a mixture of 80% copper and 20% tin with the addition of one

hundred pounds each of four cannons - a British and American cannon from the battle of

Saratoga and a Union and Confederate cannon from the battle of Gettysburg.

The bell weighs 13,000 pounds representing 1,000 pounds for each of the 13

original states and bears the following inscriptions:

Around the crown: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men - Luke, chapter II, verse 14."

Around the lip: " Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof - Leviticus, chapter XXV, verse 10."

Upon one side of the of the bell is cast - "Presented to the city of Philadelphia, July

4, 1876, for the belfry of Independence Hall, by a citizen."

On the opposite side is the date "1776" and the coat of arms of the United States set in a shield containing 13 stars.

In addition, 38 stars representing the number of states in the Union in 1876 encircle the

waist of the bell.

The first casting of Henry Seybert's bell did not meet with his expectations in terms

of tonal quality. It was recast following the Centennial and was judged much improved. It

is this bell that hangs in the tower of Independence Hall today.

In the early years following the Civil War, the first request for the Liberty Bell's

presence at a World's Fair was sent to the City of Philadelphia. In late 1884, S. Prentiss

Nutt, Special Commissioner for the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition,

wrote to Philadelphia Mayor William B. Smith requesting that the Liberty Bell be sent to

New Orleans for the opening of the exposition the following year.

The desire for unity by both the North and the South is evident in the request for

the Bell and the reply from Philadelphia. Special Commissioner Nutt declared that sending

the Liberty Bell to New Orleans would:

"meet with the universal approbation and the heartiest greetings of all the people of

the South. Our ancestors fought and bled for the time-enduring principles which that bell

rang out on July 4, 1776 and, although the bell is the property of the City of Philadelphia,

yet are we not coinheritors-inheritors of its glories? In the name of those mutually earned

glories, we ask you to let it come to New Orleans."

Mayor Smith proposed the trip to the Select and Common Councils of Philadelphia

stating,

"If the presence of the Old Bell which rang out the birth of a great republic can be

the means, by its presence at New Orleans, in restoring or cementing the same patriotic

spirit in the entire nation at this time, it will bring credit and renown to this city, and make

evident to the people of the South that the City of Brotherly Love, true to her history, is

anxious to aid in the restoration of perfect harmony throughout the nation."

The City of Philadelphia agreed to send the Bell to New Orleans with the condition

that three policemen accompany and guard it at all times.

At a time when the nation's sense of wholeness was still very fragile, the Liberty

Bell's trip from North to South proved to be a balm in the spirit of healing national unity.

Much fanfare and ceremony accompanied the Liberty Bell's removal from

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