Zion's Reformed Church: The Liberty Bell's Secret Hiding Place, Pennsylvania

In 1762, German settlers in a brand-new frontier town north of Philadelphia built a small log church. The town was called Northampton Towne then; today it's Allentown. In 1773, the congregation replaced the log church with a simple brick building. Four years later, that church would hide one of the most famous objects in American history. On September 11, 1777, the British defeated George Washington's army at the Battle of Brandywine, leaving Philadelphia nearly defenseless. Patriots feared that if the British captured the city's bells, they would melt them down for cannon or ammunition. So the bells were taken down, including the Pennsylvania State House bell, the one we now call the Liberty Bell, and carted north out of the city. The State House bell was transferred to the wagon of a local farmer, Frederick Leaser, and hidden under a load of hay. In late September 1777, it arrived at Zion's Reformed Church in Northampton Towne. There, the bells were hidden under the church's floorboards. The church's pastor, Abraham Blumer, was reportedly active in the patriot cause. The church served the war effort in another way too. From September 1777 to April 1779, it was used as a military hospital, and soldiers of the Continental Army suffered and died inside it. The British occupied Philadelphia through the winter and spring. In June 1778, they left the city, and the Liberty Bell was taken back to Philadelphia after nine months in hiding. The congregation outgrew the old brick church. In 1838 the building was enlarged, and the 1773 church may have been incorporated into the walls of what is now the boiler room. In the 1880s, the congregation built the larger Gothic Revival church that still stands on Hamilton Street. In 1908, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a plaque at the church honoring the men who saved the bell, and in 1962 the Liberty Bell Shrine Museum opened in the basement, the area where the bell had been hidden. It displayed a full-size, state-owned replica of the Liberty Bell. In 1983, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2022, the shrinking Zion's congregation voted to dissolve. In February 2023, the building was sold to Resurrected Life Community Church, a newer congregation of the same denomination. The museum and the new owners couldn't agree on a lease, and on April 1, 2023, the Liberty Bell Museum closed after more than 60 years. Its collection went to the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum. The replica bell stayed behind. It's owned by the state, it can't be moved without the state's approval, and it's too big to get out of the church. The real Liberty Bell is back in Philadelphia, and its replica remains in the basement of the church where the original was hidden.