Group plans to put Philadelphia’s other bell back on display

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It’s Philadelphia’s other bell, the bigger, uncracked twin of the Liberty Bell. Britain bestowed the Bicentennial Bell to the city as a gift for America’s 200th birthday, but it’s been out of sight and out of mind since 2013. Now, a nonprofit group is hoping to bust the bell out of storage and put it on proper display, just a few blocks away from its better-known relative.

Here are some details: Elizabeth and Prince Philip, who disembarked from the royal yacht Britannia (fans of the Netflix royal drama “The Crown” might remember the ship from Philip’s four-month tour around the Pacific in 1956) on July 6 at Penn’s Landing on the Delaware River. Their arrival marked the first time a British monarch had visited Philadelphia, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence that severed the Colonies’ ties from the crown.

The queen, a direct descendant of the patriots’ nemesis King George III, indicated there were no hard feelings. She told a crowd of 20,000 that the founding fathers taught her country “to respect the right of others to govern themselves in their own way.” On the bell is an inscription reading:

“For The People of The United States of America

From the People of Britain

4 July 1976

Let Freedom Ring”

The bell was hung in a red brick tower at what was then the visitors’ center of Independence National Park, built expressly for the bicentennial. The National Park Service removed it in 2013 because the building and tower were being demolished to make way for the Museum of the American Revolution, which will celebrate its first anniversary April 19.