When Liberty Bell went west, flags welcomed it
Think of Philadelphia, and you think of the Liberty Bell. Think of the Liberty Bell, and you think of an immovable object. But not always. The normally sedentary icon of the United States went on a coast-to-coast tour 100 years ago, and American flags welcomed it everywhere it went.
One of its destinations was thousands of miles away from the City of Brotherly Love: San Diego, California, which was hosting the Panama-California Exposition.
The Liberty Bell began its westward trek on an appropriate day: the Fourth of July 1915. It took a northern route westward and a southern one back to Philly. The bell was loaded on a specially designed railcar decorated with American flags and bunting. Lights were rigged to illuminate the bell so that, when it chugged through towns and cities at night, people could still glimpse the symbol of freedom.
Four months after departing Philadelphia, the bell arrived in San Diego for a three-day stay. “The Liberty Bell, it’s here!” cried a local newspaper. Schoolchildren and adults alike lined up to see it and imagine what it sounded like in July 1776, when it rang out the news of the Declaration of Independence.
Thousands of teachers, in town for a convention, also made sure to see the gift from back east, while Thomas Edison and Henry Ford showed up to take part in the exposition. To express their devotion to the patriotic symbol, 2,500 children formed themselves into a living American flag, and a politician delivered an address titled “Old Glory: the Flag of Hope for the World’s Peace.”
As part of the expo’s grand festivities, San Diego unveiled its official municipal flag, designed by Albert V. Mayrhofer, president of the California Historical Association. As detailed on the city’s website, “the flag is composed of three vertical bars,…red, white and gold. In the center white field is the official seal of the city and beneath it the date ‘1542.’”
That was the year Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, exploring for Spain and the first European to sail the West Coast, happened on San Diego Bay and declared that it belonged to his sponsor. “The use of the three vertical bars is reminiscent of the colors of the flag of Spain, which flew over Cabrillo’s ship,” the city notes.
The city seal, which appears in the middle of the banner, was created 20 years before the city flag’s introduction. It is chockablock with symbols: the Pillars of Hercules, a reference to rocky outcroppings at Gibraltar and a salute to Spain; a wheel with wings to stand for “manufacturing and transportation”; dolphins to represent the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; an orange tree for the Golden State’s fruit; and a Latin motto meaning “Ever Vigilant.”
Certainly, the crowds that jammed the exposition were “ever vigilant” about getting a once-in-a-lifetime look at the flag-bedecked Liberty Bell.