Back

Liberty Bell Museum

Liberty Bell Museum
Liberty Bell Museum in 1962
Map
Established1962
Dissolved2023
Location622 West Hamilton Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania U.S.
TypeHistory museum
Zion United Church of Christ at 622 Hamilton Street in Allentown, where the Liberty Bell was successfully hidden under floor boards from the British Army from September 1777 until June 1778 during the British occupation of Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.
A watercolor painting depicting the arrival of the Liberty Bell at Zions Church, on September 24, 1777
A woodcust image of Zion's Church, which includes a sketched message, indicating that the church was erected in 1773 and was the hiding place for the Liberty Bell during the winter of 1777–1778
"The Saving of the Liberty Bell", a plaque commemorating John Jacob Mickley and Frederick Leaser at Zion United Church
In 1893, the Liberty Bell returned to Allentown on its way to Philadelphia following the Columbian Exposition in Chicago; Hotel Allen and Zion's Church in Center City Allentown are visible (on the right)
A 1908 plaque honoring John Jacob Mickley and Frederick Leaser at the church

The Liberty Bell Museum, also the Liberty Bell Shrine Museum was a non-profit organization and museum located in Zion's United Church of Christ, formerly Zion's Reformed Church, in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The museum was located in the basement of the church, where the Liberty Bell, an iconic and globally-recognized symbol of America's independence and freedom, was hidden from the British Army by Allentown-area American patriots during the American Revolutionary War from September 1777 to June 1778.

The museum was constructed and opened in 1962, and included exhibits relating to the Liberty Bell and subjects including liberty, freedom, patriotism and local history. It also contained a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell, one of 55 replicas cast in France in 1950, for a U.S. Treasury Department savings bond promotion,[1] which visitors were permitted to ring.

Also on display was Allentown's Liberty Bell, which was cast in 1769, and was believed to have been rung on July 8, 1776, to announce the public reading in Allentown of the Declaration of Independence.[2][3]

The museum closed in 2023 after the church was sold.

  1. ^ "Replicas of the Liberty Bell owned by U.S. state governments". Liberty BellMuseum. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  2. ^ Stoudt, John Baer (1927). The Liberty Bell in Allentown and Allentown's Liberty Bell. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co.
  3. ^ Whelan, Frank (March 28, 2020). "History's Headlines: The Liberty Bell Stopped Here". wfmz.com. WFMZ-TV. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Nelliwinne