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 Liberty Bell - Helena, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 46° 35.160 W 112° 00.984
12T E 422132 N 5159661
One of nine contributing objects to the Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District, this bell stands at the corner of Roberts Street & 5th Avenue, directly east of the capitol building.
Waymark Code: WMWH4Z
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2017
Views: 0
Of the 52 replica Liberty Bells produced at the time, I wonder if all had "Pennsylvania" spelled as it is on this bell - "Pensylvania". Apparently, according to the National Parks website, they did. Now that I think about it, the 52 replica Liberty Bells wouldn't be exact replicas is the error on the original bell had been corrected.
The original Liberty Bell was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and produced in 1751 by the London firm of Lester & Pack (subsequently known as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry). It cracked upon the first test ring and was melted down and recast in Philadelphia in 1753 by local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow.
The Crack
No one recorded when or why the Liberty Bell first cracked, but the most likely explanation is that a narrow split developed in the early 1840's after nearly 90 years of hard use. In 1846, when the city decided to repair the bell prior to George Washington's birthday holiday (February 23), metal workers widened the thin crack to prevent its farther spread and restore the tone of the bell using a technique called "stop drilling". The wide "crack" in the Liberty Bell is actually the repair job! Look carefully and you'll see over 40 drill bit marks in that wide "crack". But, the repair was not successful. The Public Ledger newspaper reported that the repair failed when another fissure developed. This second crack, running from the abbreviation for "Philadelphia" up through the word "Liberty", silenced the bell forever. No one living today has heard the bell ring freely with its clapper, but computer modeling provides some clues into the sound of the Liberty Bell.
From National Parks
The full inscription on the Liberty Bell reads as follows:
Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X
By Order of the ASSEMBLY of the Province of PENSYLVANIA for the State House in Philada
Pass and Stow
Philada
MDCCLIII
Where is original located?: Liberty Bell Center, Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia
Where is this replica located?: Montana State Capitol Campus, Helena, MT
Who created the original?: Lester & Pack (Whitechapel Bell Foundry), later John Pass and John Stow
Internet Link about Original: https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/stories-libertybell.htm
Year Original was Created (approx. ok): 1751 & 1753
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