The museum was constructed and opened in 1962, and included exhibits relating to the Liberty Bell and subjects including liberty, freedom, patriotism and local history. It also contained a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell, one of 55 replicas cast in France in 1950, for a U.S. Treasury Departmentsavings bond promotion,[1] which visitors were permitted to ring.
Also on display was Allentown's Liberty Bell, which was cast in 1769, and was believed to have been rung on July 8, 1776, to announce the public reading in Allentown of the Declaration of Independence.[2][3]
The museum closed in 2023 after the church was sold.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council ordered that eleven bells, including the State House Bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, and ten other bells from Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia, be taken down and removed from the city to prevent the British Army from taking possession of them and melting them down to cast into munitions for use in the war.[3]
On September 23, 1777, the bishop of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem reported that the wagons had arrived, and all bells except the State House Bell had been moved to Northampton Towne in present-day Allentown. The following day, the State House bell was transferred to the wagon of Frederick Leaser and taken to the historic Zion Reformed Church in Center City Allentown, where it was stored with the other bells under the church's floorboards.[4]
On September 26, 1777, three days after the Liberty Bell's arrival in Bethlehem, British forces marched into Philadelphia unopposed and occupied the city. The bell was later returned to Philadelphia in June 1778 following the end of the British occupation of Philadelphia.[2]
The museum serves as the headquarters of the Allentown Flag Day Association, which was established on July 3, 1907 by local residents Joe Hart and General Harry Clay Trexler.[6] It is the oldest incorporated Flag Day Association in the nation.[6]
In 2003, the Liberty Bell Museum became the permanent home of Pip the Mouse, a puppet that was part of the show, "The Mouse Before Christmas." The holiday show originally was performed at Hess's, a now-defunct local department store, from 1962 to 1995. The character of Pip became regionally famous among children and was a staple of the store's holiday advertising and marketing campaigns.[8]
On January 11, 2022, Zion's Consistory, the church's governing body, announced plans to put the church up for sale in late 2022 because of "declining membership and financial problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic." While the announcement did not indicate how the potential sale might impact the future of the Liberty Bell Museum, a consistory spokesperson indicated that preserving the museum was the church's "highest priority."[9]
The museum and the church were not able to agree on a new lease, and the museum permanently closed on April 1, 2023. The former museum's artifacts were relocated to the Lehigh County Historical Society.[10][11]
^ ab"Historical roots of region and nation are intertwined.", The Morning Call, pp. A.8, July 6, 2007
^Devlin, Ron (June 9, 2005), "Flag Day Group's Leader Eyes 2007 Centennial.", The Morning Call, pp. B.06
^Lauer-Wiliams, Kathy (December 18, 2007), "Who keeps Pip alive? ** Aging mouse owes his life to curator and loving volunteers.", The Morning Call, pp. E.1
