After Nearly 500 Years in Business, the Company that Cast the Liberty Bell Is Ceasing All Operations
In 1751, Pennsylvania statesman Isaac Norris II commissioned Whitechapel’s most famous American bell to hang from the State House (now Independence Hall). Upon arrival from London, the “State House Bell,” as it was then called, cracked during a sound test, so Philadelphia bell founders Pass and Stowe melted and recast it.
The State Bell became the “Liberty Bell” when 19th-century abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of their cause. Gary Nash, professor of history at UCLA, says that “bell worship predated flag worship." The bell “was by far the one material thing that Americans identified with,” he writes—in part because of the seven national road trips it took to promote national solidarity between 1885 and 1915. After the Civil War, writes Nash, the bell became a symbol of national reconciliation. At each stop on its 1885 trip through the South, he adds, “people surged forward to touch, stroke, or kiss the bell.”
Though the Liberty Bell became a powerful symbol of national unity, it's as famous for its fragility as for its strength. Though it's not entirely certain how the bell became damaged, the foundry suspects its brittle metal may have cracked when rung while in contact with its frame or fittings. Regardless of the reason, the Liberty Bell has not tolled for over 100 years.
The foundry has used the same bell founding technique since the 16th century. For each bell, workers craft two molds from “loam”—a mixture of animal hair, sand, clay, recycled loam, manure and water. The inner mold, “the core,” and the outer mold, “the cope,” are baked to harden, inscribed, coated with graphite and clamped together. Bell metal, an alloy of copper and tin, is heated to over 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit and poured into the mold. When the bell cools, craftsmen break the mold, “skirt” or smoothen the edges, and tune it.
A few blocks away from the Liberty Bell, what some call its “sister bell” regularly rings in the Christ Church steeple. It is called “the tenor” because it is the largest in the peal cast by Whitechapel for the church in 1754. At slightly over 2,000 lbs, it shares the same specifications as the Liberty Bell. When this bell cracked during the winter of 1834, the church sent it back to London for recasting.
According to Bruce Gill, a Christ Church vestryman and local historian, this bell’s ring “is the closest we’ll ever get to what the Liberty Bell sounds like.” In the 18th century, the Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells rang together, most notably on July 8, 1776, when their toll announced the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Read more: After Nearly 500 Years in Business, the Company that Cast the Liberty Bell Is Ceasing All Operations | History | Smithsonian
In 1751, Pennsylvania statesman Isaac Norris II commissioned Whitechapel’s most famous American bell to hang from the State House (now Independence Hall). Upon arrival from London, the “State House Bell,” as it was then called, cracked during a sound test, so Philadelphia bell founders Pass and Stowe melted and recast it.
The State Bell became the “Liberty Bell” when 19th-century abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of their cause. Gary Nash, professor of history at UCLA, says that “bell worship predated flag worship." The bell “was by far the one material thing that Americans identified with,” he writes—in part because of the seven national road trips it took to promote national solidarity between 1885 and 1915. After the Civil War, writes Nash, the bell became a symbol of national reconciliation. At each stop on its 1885 trip through the South, he adds, “people surged forward to touch, stroke, or kiss the bell.”
Though the Liberty Bell became a powerful symbol of national unity, it's as famous for its fragility as for its strength. Though it's not entirely certain how the bell became damaged, the foundry suspects its brittle metal may have cracked when rung while in contact with its frame or fittings. Regardless of the reason, the Liberty Bell has not tolled for over 100 years.
The foundry has used the same bell founding technique since the 16th century. For each bell, workers craft two molds from “loam”—a mixture of animal hair, sand, clay, recycled loam, manure and water. The inner mold, “the core,” and the outer mold, “the cope,” are baked to harden, inscribed, coated with graphite and clamped together. Bell metal, an alloy of copper and tin, is heated to over 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit and poured into the mold. When the bell cools, craftsmen break the mold, “skirt” or smoothen the edges, and tune it.
A few blocks away from the Liberty Bell, what some call its “sister bell” regularly rings in the Christ Church steeple. It is called “the tenor” because it is the largest in the peal cast by Whitechapel for the church in 1754. At slightly over 2,000 lbs, it shares the same specifications as the Liberty Bell. When this bell cracked during the winter of 1834, the church sent it back to London for recasting.
According to Bruce Gill, a Christ Church vestryman and local historian, this bell’s ring “is the closest we’ll ever get to what the Liberty Bell sounds like.” In the 18th century, the Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells rang together, most notably on July 8, 1776, when their toll announced the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Read more: After Nearly 500 Years in Business, the Company that Cast the Liberty Bell Is Ceasing All Operations | History | Smithsonian
