Published July 04. 2026 04:11AM<\/p>\n
By the autumn of 1777, things were looking grim for the fledgling new nation.<\/p>\n
Gen. William Howe\u2019s redcoats outflanked Gen. George Washington\u2019s Continentals along the Brandywine Battlefield on Sept. 11 and were marching ahead to occupy Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Anticipating the enemy occupation of the birthplace of the United States of America, patriots decided that the State House Bell and 10 other bells would be removed from the Philadelphia for safekeeping. They feared the British would melt them down into artillery and ammunition.<\/p>\n
What became known as the Liberty Bell was hauled by wagon and found a hiding place under the floorboards of Allentown\u2019s Zion Church until the British withdrew in 1778.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put this up as a pictorial timeline of the American Revolution from the 1760s and the growing discontent with England, all the way through to 1781, the last major battle at Yorktown,\u201d says Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum Executive Director Dr. James Higgins about the museum\u2019s exhibition celebrating the birth of the United States of America.<\/p>\n
The exhibit is presented as part of LehighCounty250, which is part of America250PA, marking the United States\u2019 Semiquincentennial celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
Paintings of notable people and events are complemented by giclee prints of historic milestones painted by Emanuel Leutze and other artists and contemporary painter Mort K\u00fcnstler and others. Tying the artwork in the room together is a patriotic wall mural by Lehigh Valley artist Rosemary Geseck.<\/p>\n
Mannequins in colonial garb stand as sentries over replicas of Colonial Era surgical tools, furniture and artifacts.<\/p>\n
In a display commemorating the Liberty Bell\u2019s clandestine visit to Allentown are mannequins depicting Kay Bagenstose and her late husband George, who participated in the 1976 Bicentennial six-day reenactment of the iconic bell\u2019s historic journey. With faces closely resembling the pair of Lehigh Valley history buffs, the mannequins are dressed in the Colonial garb worn by the couple during the Bicentennial event.<\/p>\n
Behind them is a display depicting the Liberty Bell\u2019s journey to Allentown and a circa 1840s\u2019 folk-art oil painting by an unknown artist showing the bell reaching its destination in front of Zion Church as it looked in 1777.<\/p>\n
Many items in the exhibit have been in the museum\u2019s collection for decades. Others were acquired in 2023 when the Liberty Bell Museum at the former Zion UCC Church along Hamilton Street closed. The state-owned Liberty Bell replica is still in the church basement as it is too massive to fit through a door.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put a large replica of that replica bell outside [of Zion UCC] for the 250th anniversary,\u201d says Higgins. \u201cPeople can visit it anytime of the day or night. It\u2019s going to be one of the legacy gifts of the 2026 Semiquincentennial.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Lehrman Institute of American History installation greets visitors outside the main exhibit hall. \u201cIt\u2019s designed to focus on an aspect of the Revolution. In this case, it\u2019s the Declaration of Independence, what it has meant to the United States and for people and countries from around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the historic document is often referenced by activists championing civil rights for minorities, women\u2019s rights and was even cited by Gandhi during India\u2019s independence movement from British rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been anticipating the 250th for several years now,\u201d says Higgins. Set up in spring 2024, the exhibit will remain in the gallery for many more years. \u201cUntil 2033, we are going to have a series of 250th anniversaries,\u201d Higgins says as he points out that the war for independence spanned 1775 – 1783.<\/p>\n
A \u201c250th Celebration\u201d exhibit and program, including a 1 p.m. lecture on the \u201cheroic war-time rescue of James Allen\u2019s wife Elizabeth,\u201d and a reading of the \u201cDeclaration of Independence\u201d is 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. July 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American Revolution,\u201d Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown. Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday 610-435-1074; www.lehighcountyhistoricalsociety.org<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY ED COURRIERLehigh Valley Heritage Museum Executive Director Dr. James Higgins with art and artifacts and a mural painted by Rosemary Geseck for the museum\u2019s \u201cThe American Revolution\u201d exhibit.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY ED COURRIER\u201cThe American Revolution\u201d exhibit in the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum includes, left, colonial soldier mannequin; center and right, mannequins representing George and Kay Bagenstose\u2019s participation in the 1976 Bicentennial reenactment of the Liberty Bell\u2019s historic journey, and, in background, a display depicting the Liberty Bell\u2019s journey to Allentown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published July 04. 2026 04:11AM By the autumn of 1777, things were looking grim for the fledgling new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-235304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}