Existing comment:
"This inevitable relic of the Revolution... irreparably cracked..."
-- The Public Ledger, 23 February 1846
The 2,000-pound State House bell was surprisingly fragile.
The Bell, like other bells of the time, had inherent flaws; its unstable mix of metals made it brittle. The Bell first cracked soon after arriving in Philadelphia in 1752. The Pennsylvania Assembly twice hired local craftsmen, John Pass and John Stow, to recast it.
After years of service, the Bell cracked again, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Workers fixed it by drilling the hairline fracture to widen the crack, an accepted remedy. The repair worked only briefly. In 1846, when the crack extended, the city retired the Bell from active use.
Several news accounts mention the Bell without any reference to damage until 1846, when the repaired Bell cracked again.
* On September 3, 1824, Philadelphia's Democratic Press had a story about the bell, and quoted its inscription without mentioning any crack.
* In 1829, The Casket described the State House. 'In the attic story of the basement of the steeple (the brick part) is suspended the great bell.' It quotes the inscription but does not mention a crack.
* On June 30, 1841, City government agreed to let the young men of the city ring 'the old State House bell' on the Fourth of July.
* The May 29, 1844, Public Ledger carried a story on the Bell, but did not mention any crack.
1753: On order from the Pennsylvania Assembly, John Pass and John Stow recast the new Bell after it cracked during testing.
1777: Patriots took the Bell out of the city of escape capture by the British Army when it occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
1846: Workers repaired the Bell after it cracked sometime in the first half of the 19th century. The repair was only briefly successful, and the City retired the Bell from active service.
1852: Since it could no longer ring, the Bell was taken from the tower and displayed in a small museum in Independence Hall along with other valued historic objects.
1915: A "spider" installed inside the Bell kept the crack from spreading.
1976: The Bell moved to a new building designed to handle large crowds.
2003: This carefully designed building follows earlier efforts to protect, preserve and display the Liberty Bell. |