The Liberty Bell was cast in 1752, connecting the Philadelphia landmark to America250.
The bell was commissioned for the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, and cast in London by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It arrived in Philadelphia in 1752, but cracked during an initial test. Local founders John Pass and John Stow recast it, producing the bell associated with the city’s revolutionary history.
The bell’s inscription comes from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” The inscription helped make it a powerful symbol of liberty, although the bell was not documented as ringing specifically to announce the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Its famous crack developed over time and was enlarged during an attempted repair in the nineteenth century. The Liberty Bell is now displayed in the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia, near Independence Hall, linking colonial history, independence, and the America250 era.