The National Park Service on Thursday removed Philadelphia’s six-ton Bicentennial Bell from a 130-foot-tall brick tower near a former visitor center at 3rd and Chestnut streets and placed into storage.
The bell, cast in the same London foundry that in 1751 created the Liberty Bell, was a 1976 gift from Queen Elizabeth II celebrating the country’s 200th birthday. Her trip to Philadelphia that year marked the first time a British monarch visited the city.
The tower that until Thursday housed the bell is being demolished for the National Museum of the American Revolution. The bell will reportedly be relocated in Independence National Historic Park.
