Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell hangs in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall. In 1751 the Pennsylvania authorities sought a new bell for the State House, now Independence Hall, and it was cast by the Whitechapel Foundry in London and delivered in 1752.

The bell cracked on its first test ring after arriving in Philadelphia in 1752. Two local metalworkers, John Pass and John Stow, recast it twice, and their names appear on the bell. It rang to call the Assembly and mark public events. The name Liberty Bell came from abolitionists in the 1830s, who used its inscription as a symbol of their cause. The famous crack widened in the 19th century, and the bell has not been rung normally since Washington's Birthday in 1846, although it has been gently tapped on a few occasions such as D-Day.

The bell weighs about 940 kilograms. Its inscription quotes Leviticus 25:10: Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof. The bell toured the country by train for exhibitions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it moved to the Liberty Bell Pavilion in 1976 and to the glass-walled Liberty Bell Center in 2003, with Independence Hall visible behind it. In 1915 suffragists commissioned a replica, the Justice Bell, for their campaign.

Entry to the Liberty Bell Center is free and does not need a ticket. Visitors pass through a security screening, and lines can be long in summer. It is managed by the National Park Service.

Size of the bell and the price of casting it

The Liberty Bell stands about 1.2 metres high and its lip measures 3.7 metres around. The first bell from London cost £150 13s 8d with freight and insurance, about £28,000 in today's money. After it cracked, John Pass and John Stow recast it with about 10 percent extra copper, finishing in June 1753, and the year MDCCLIII appears on the bell beside their names.

It still hangs from what is believed to be its original yoke of American elm. Pass and Stow's bell was not admired for its tone; one listener compared the sound to two coal scuttles being banged together.

The bell's fame produced copies. For the 1876 Centennial, officials cast a much larger replica of about 5,900 kilograms, 1,000 pounds for each of the thirteen colonies, using metal from four melted cannons from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. In 1950 the Fonderie Paccard in France cast 55 full-size replicas for a Savings Bond drive, one for each state, the District of Columbia and the territories. Between 1885 and 1915 the original travelled by rail to seven expositions. On 1 April 1996 Taco Bell claimed that it had bought the bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell, then admitted it was an April Fools' joke.