The Liberty Bell was hidden in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during the British occupation of Philadelphia.
In September 1777, American forces suffered defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, leaving Philadelphia vulnerable to British capture. Local officials feared the bell could be seized and melted down for ammunition, so it was removed from the State House tower with other important bells.
A guarded wagon train carried the bells westward. The Liberty Bell was placed beneath the floorboards of Zion German Reformed Church in Allentown, then known as Northampton Town. It remained there for about nine months while British troops occupied Philadelphia.
After the British withdrew on June 18, 1778, the bell returned to Philadelphia. The story adds a wartime chapter to the bell's later patriotic symbolism. Allentown's role is sometimes confused with Bethlehem because the evacuation route passed through the Lehigh Valley, but the bell's hiding place was Zion Church in Allentown.