3679 – July 3, 2025 – Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land – The State House bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, rang in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House. Today, we call that building Independence Hall. Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris first ordered a bell for the bell tower in 1751 from the Whitechapel Foundry in London.

That bell cracked on the first test ring. Local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow melted down that bell and cast a new one right here in Philadelphia. It’s this bell that would ring to call lawmakers to their meetings and the townspeople together to hear the reading of the news. Benjamin Franklin wrote to Catherine Ray in 1755, “Adieu, the Bell rings, and I must go among the Grave ones and talk Politicks.”

It’s not until the 1830s that the old State House bell would begin to take on significance as a symbol of liberty. The second bell eventually cracked as well and the efforts to repair it were unsuccessful. That is the bell we now see displayed in PA.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE EVE, AMERICA! The Fourth Of July has always been a big deal for me. As a kid we celebrated at home. (just the 7 of us, not big party event) At that time fireworks in town were still legal. Daddy bought just a few roman candles, sparklers and firecrackers and a fountain or two. (Mom’s favorite)

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