{"id":2684,"date":"2015-10-15T08:21:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T12:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=2684"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:26:21","slug":"liberty-bell-went-west-flags-welcomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/liberty-bell-went-west-flags-welcomed\/","title":{"rendered":"When Liberty Bell went west, flags welcomed it"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"America's<\/a>
America’s bell on its way to San Diego. (San Diego History Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a> welcomed it everywhere it went.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty<\/a>
Liberty Bell float at the exposition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

\"Albert<\/a>
Albert Mayrhofer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four months after departing Philadelphia, the bell arrived in San Diego for a three-day stay. \u201cThe Liberty Bell, it\u2019s here!\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cOld Glory: the Flag of Hope for the World\u2019s Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>As part of the expo\u2019s grand festivities, San Diego unveiled its official municipal flag<\/a>, designed by Albert V. Mayrhofer, president of the California Historical Association. As detailed on the city\u2019s website, \u201cthe flag is composed of three vertical bars,\u2026red, white and gold. In the center white field is the official seal of the city and beneath it the date \u20181542.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\"Juan<\/a>
Juan Cabrillo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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. \u201cThe use of the three vertical bars is reminiscent of the colors of the flag of Spain, which flew over Cabrillo\u2019s ship,\u201d the city notes.<\/p>\n

The city seal, which appears in the middle of the banner, was created 20 years before the city flag\u2019s 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 \u201cmanufacturing and transportation\u201d; dolphins to represent the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; an orange tree for the Golden State\u2019s fruit; and a Latin motto meaning \u201cEver Vigilant.\u201d\"Seal<\/a><\/figure>\n

Certainly, the crowds that jammed the exposition were \u201cever vigilant\u201d about getting a once-in-a-lifetime look at the flag-bedecked Liberty Bell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,313],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flags","tag-liberty-bell"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Liberty Bell went west, flags welcomed it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The normally sedentary Liberty Bell went on a coast-to-coast tour 100 years ago, and American flags welcomed it everywhere it went.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/liberty-bell-went-west-flags-welcomed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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