During the American Revolutionary War, the church was selected as the site to hide and protect the Liberty Bell from seizure as British troops prepared the Philadelphia campaign, designed to attack and occupy the revolutionary capital in Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell was hidden beneath floor boards in the church for nine months, from September 1777 until the British ultimately departed Philadelphia in June 1778.
Until 2023, the church housed the Liberty Bell Museum, established to honor the role that Allentown and Lehigh Valley-area American patriots played in guarding the Liberty Bell.
History
18th century
The church in June 2013
Initially built as a log structure on its present-day site at 622 Hamilton Street in Center City Allentown in 1762, the original High German Evangelical Reformed Church building was replaced in 1773 with a simple brick structure, which was designed in a vernacularfederal style and erected a few yards north of the first log church's location.
In September 1777, as American patriots prepared for a British Army attack on the colonial-era capital of Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell and other bells in Philadelphia were ordered taken down and then hastily transported to present-day Allentown, which was then called Northampton Towne, where they were successfully hidden under the church's floor boards until June 1778 when the British abandoned Philadelphia.[2]
19th century
In 1838, when Zion Reformed was enlarged, contractors may have incorporated the 1762 structure into the walls of the current building's boiler room. The building was then enlarged further between 1886 and 1888 via gothic revival-style improvements made by architect Lewis Jacoby.[3]
The church was home to the Liberty Bell Museum. The museum was located in the church's basement, which is where the Liberty Bell was hidden in 1777. The museum closed in 2023.
