An agreement is in the offing to transfer the bulk of the contents of the Liberty Bell Museum to the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum.

The replica of the Liberty Bell is expected to remain in the basement of the former Zion UCC Church, Allentown, where the Liberty Bell is said to have been hidden during the Revolutionary War.

An agreement for the Liberty Bell Museum, which had its 60th anniversary in 2022, to stay in the basement of the “Liberty Bell Church,” 620 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, was unable to be reached between the nonprofit museum and Resurrected Life Community Church United Church of Christ, 144 N. Ninth St., Allentown.

“We’ve been talking to the president of the Liberty Bell Museum for several months,” said Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum Executive Director Joseph Garrera in a March 28 phone interview with a reporter for Lehigh Valley Press.

“Through the good work of Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, who took a leadership role helping the Liberty Bell Museum work through this during the course of our discussion, he asked, ’Would the Lehigh County Historical Society be prepared to act as a backstop if things didn‘t work out?’” Garrera recounted.

The historical society operates the Lehigh Valley Heritage Center, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown.

Liberty Bell Museum Board of Directors President is Dr. Dennis Blankowitsch. Liberty Bell Museum Manager is Stephanie Burke, a museum tour guide.

In commemoration of the hiding of the bell, a State Historical Marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission was dedicated July 16, 2022, in front of the then Zion UCC Church. Former State Sen. Patrick M. Browne, among officials who spoke at the dedication, was instrumental in securing the state plaque.

The plaque notes that the Liberty Bell was hidden in the church from September 1777 to June 1778. There was concern that the Liberty Bell, then the Pennsylvania State House Bell, was going to be melted down for use as munitions by the British.

The Liberty Bell was removed from its tower in Philadelphia and transported by guarded wagon train to Northampton Town, now Allentown. The bell was placed under the basement floorboards of the church.

The Liberty Bell Shine, later Liberty Bell Museum, was founded in 1962.

With the Liberty Bell replica expected to stay in the church, Resurrected Life may create a Liberty Bell museum or display of its own there.

“Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas,” the holiday season puppet show, is expected to move to the heritage museum.

“That’s the plan now. Pip the Mouse will come, too,” said Garrera.

It’s anticipated that Pip will hold forth at the heritage museum for the holiday 2023 season. If so, it will be the third home for Pip. The puppet show originated at the former Hess’s department store, Ninth and Hamilton streets, Allentown.

Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ, 620 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, was believed to have had a congregation at that location for approximately 250 years. Zion’s Consistory, which put the church up for sale in June 2022, donated the property to Resurrected Life, which took deed to the property in February.

The Liberty Bell Museum is a non-profit that operated in the church. The exhibition, “Let Freedom Ring!,” which opened in February, was to have continued through April at the museum. Instead, the Liberty Bell Museum closed April Fool’s Day, April 1.

“We’re prepared to help them [Liberty Bell Museum] out and to work with them and to create a large permanent exhibit that will be representative of what the museum had to offer and help tell the expansive story of the Liberty Bell and its importance in American history,” said Garerra.

“There are final documents to be signed between the Lehigh County Historical Society and the Liberty Bell Museum,” Garerra continued.

“Of the things that are on exhibit there, some belong other organizations, such as the [Honorary] First Defenders, and even specialized collectors. Those things will be returned to those people.

“The timeline is going to happen rather quickly.

The [Liberty Bell] replica [in the Liberty Bell Museum] is owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission.

“When the disposition is concluded, there are different options that we have.

“I think the biggest thing will be designing a new exhibit to tell the story of the Liberty Bell.

The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum has 13,000-square feet of exhibit space.

“Our museum chief curator Jill Youngken has already put together some preliminary designs,” said Garerra.

A replica of the Liberty Bell could be purchased for about $50,000 from a foundry.

The year 2026 marks the United States’ semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary.

Garrera is optimistic about the prospects for Allentown’s Liberty Bell heritage:

“We’re almost 50 years away from the Bicentennial [1976]. We’re coming up on the 250th anniversary.

“We think that in the next few years, there will be considerably more interest in the Liberty Bell. That’s going to create renewed awareness in the Liberty Bell,” said Garrera.

Lehigh Valley Heritage Center information: 610-435-1074; http://www.lehighcountyhistoricalsociety.org/