Which two founders recast Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell after it cracked?

John Pass and John Stow recast Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell after it cracked.

The bell was ordered from the London firm Lester and Pack and arrived in Philadelphia in 1752. During an early test, its rim cracked after the clapper struck it. Local founders Pass and Stow offered to melt down the damaged bell and cast a replacement.

The first recasting did not produce a satisfactory sound, so the two craftsmen recast the bell again. Their surnames appear on the bell beneath the famous inscription. Pass headed the Mount Holly Iron Foundry in New Jersey, while Stow was a young brass founder in Philadelphia.

The bell’s physical history is sometimes simplified into the story of one famous crack, but it had an early crack and later developed the large split now associated with its appearance. The bell is displayed in Philadelphia as a national symbol rather than used as a functioning bell.