The "Tales From The Museum: The Courthouse Bell" Story

Preface:  For years I have enjoyed the TV show known as "Mysteries At The Museum" which stars Don Wildman who narrates visits to museums around the world.  A rather unique item is chosen from the museum and a story is told about that item.  Over the past few days I have chosen to do something similar by randomly selecting items from Lancaster's Hisstory.org museum and writing my own commentary about the item.  Today ends my stories.  Thanks for letting me share them with you.

Lancaster History.org in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of Lancaster County's first courthouse bell which is displayed at Lancaster History.org Museum located at 230 North President Ave. in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Standing next to the museum is Wheatland, the home of President James Buchanan.  For the past three years my wife has given me a Christmas gift of membership at the museum.  

Watercolor of the original Courthouse in Lancaster, PA.

Today I decided to make a visit to see if I could find a few unusual items that I too could tell it's story.  Wasn't long before I was standing in front of the 1825 Courthouse bell.  Lancaster County's first courthouse was begun in 1736 and was located at the center square which is not the site of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.  

A pen and ink drawing of the Courthouse.  

It was completed in 1739 and was one of the first in America.  The two-story building had a courtroom on the first floor and council chambers on the second floor.  It had leaded hand-made glass window panes that made the light shimmer when if passed through them.  The slate shingled roof had a steeple and belfry.  In 1744 the Lancaster Treaty was negotiated in this courthouse between the Six Indian Nations and the governments of Maryland and Virginia.  

This is an unfinished watercolor of Lancaster's first
Courthouse painted by Benjamin Latrobe.

On September 27, 1777 the Continental Congress met in the courthouse making Lancaster the nation's capital for one day.  During the British occupation of Philadel- phia in 1777 and 1778, Pennsylvania used the courthouse as the seat of government for the Commonwealth.  

This is a "Camera Obscura" and watercolor image by W.
Barton that shows the second courthouse in the center of
the city.  On the left stands the home of Jasper Yeates,
attorney and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice for 26 yrs.

The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1784 and a second courthouse was built at the same location.  The bell which I am standing in front of today was eventually installed in its cupola.  The bell was rung to mark the hour of day and on Market days signaled permission for all market vendors to commence business.  A clock was also installed in the tower and with the bell helped regulate the day of many Lancaster City residents.  

The John Wilbank bell.

The bell was cast in 1825 in German- town, which is near Philadelphia, by John Wilbank who ran a bronze foundry.  John's greatest claim to fame was his ownership of the cracked Liberty Bell.  It was in 1828 that the Marquis de Lafayette was to visit Philadelphia.  Since the bell in the Old State House was cracked and had a terrible tone, the city contacted with Mr. Wilbank to cast a new bell.  

The casting shows the name and date of the bell maker.

They gave him the old Liberty Bell as partial payment.  He determined that it would cost him more than it was worth so refused to take it.  The city sued him and the Judge told him the bell was his, but he was allowed to leave it with the city on permanent loan.  Thus, the Liberty Bell remains in possession of the city of Philadelphia.  Eventually the courthouse was demolished in 1852 and the Wilbank bell was purchased by the Rohrer family.  The bell now sits in front of me, a gift from Tobias Hershey Rohrer, Jr. and Peter B. Rohrer to History.org.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.