On October 9, 2003, the Liberty Bell will make a 963-foot* journey to a new home on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. The $12.9 million Liberty Bell Center offers a modern interpretation of what the beloved icon means to Americans. In preceding eras, the Bell tolled for George Washington’s funeral, toured the country on several whistle stop tours after the Civil War and served as a symbol for abolitionists, suffragists, Civil Rights advocates, Native Americans, immigrants and war protestors. The move is one of the last major developments in the $314 million transformation of Independence National Historical Park (INHP).
The "Liberty in Motion" move ceremony begins at 7:04 a.m. on Thursday, October 9, at which time the Bell will be wheeled out of its current home in the Liberty Bell Pavilion, built for the country’s bicentennial in 1976, and pushed, by hand, on a custom-made pneumatic cart featuring high-tech sensors that register strain on the Bell's famous crack as thin as one-one hundredth of a human hair. From 7 a.m. to 12 noon, riggers from the George Young Company, joined intermittently by honorees, will push the 2,080-pound Bell en route to its new home.
Onlookers, who can enjoy bell-shaped pancakes from 7-9 a.m. under a tent at 5th & Market Streets, can walk alongside the five-hour procession, which will be animated periodically by seven vignettes that chronologically and philosophically trace the history of the Bell from 1776 to 2003. Each vignette combines first-person re-enactors, period music and a flag. For example, the fourth vignette represents 1865 with 37 stars on the flag, Lucretia Mott and other Civil War re-enactors and a gospel choir.
The three-block stretch known as Independence Mall, between 5th & 6th Streets from Race to Chestnut Streets, has undergone a massive transformation that began to materialize in November 2001 with the opening of the Independence Visitor Center. The National Constitution Center opened to rave reviews on July 4 of this year. Also in the works is the Independence Park Academy, an educational facility for which funds are being raised.
Urban planner Laurie Olin of the Olin Partnership oversaw the Mall’s redesign. Olin considered the call of citizens who wanted to put the Liberty Bell back in Independence Hall, its home from 1753 to 1976. But the Hall could not accommodate heavy foot traffic, full time visibility and the First Amendment right for demonstrators to gather within sight of the Bell. With an office across from Independence Hall, Olin spent countless hours surveying the mall as a pedestrian. His firm chose the current site because it affords the best sight lines between Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and also frees the powerful view between the Hall and the National Constitution Center on the opposite end of the Mall.
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