STATEHOUSE NEWS

---

The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) is proud to announce the return of Ohio’s replica liberty bell to the Ohio Statehouse. The Ohio bell is one of 55, full-size Liberty Bell replicas produced in 1950 and given to the states and territories of the United States as gifts. The bells where commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and cast in the Paccard Foundry of Sévrier, France. The bells were used as promotional pieces for a savings bond drive held from May 15 to July 4, 1950, with the slogan “Save for Your Independence.”

For over forty years the replica liberty bell resided inside the Ohio Statehouse. The majority of that time the bell could be found in the south hallway on the first floor of the capitol. During the massive seven-year restoration of the Ohio Statehouse and Capitol Square the bell was moved to the Ohio History Center, headquarters of the Ohio History Connection.

“CSRAB is happy to bring a piece of Statehouse history back to Capitol Square. The bell reminds Statehouse visitors of the Founding Fathers’ legacy of liberty, freedom and democratic ideals that all Americans have inherited,” said William Carleton, CSRAB executive director.

The replica liberty bell is on display in the Museum Gallery of the Ohio Statehouse and is one of two bells that are housed on the ground floor. Directly north of the liberty bell replica stands the 89^th Ohio Bicentennial Bell made for “the people of the State of Ohio.” Commissioned in 2003 by the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, all 88 Ohio counties and the Ohio Statehouse received a bell cast by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati.

To view this press release and others, visit www.ohiostatehouse.org.

# # #