National Register of Historic Places

Liberty Bell, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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The Liberty Bell, at the base of the tower in Independence Hall, around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2018, without the Liberty Bell:

Today, the Liberty Bell is one of the most recognizable symbols of American independence and freedom, perhaps only matched by the American flag and the bald eagle. However, this would have seemed a rather implausible outcome for mid-18th century observers, who would have seen it as a poorly-made English import that barely served its purpose as a bell. The original bell arrived in Philadelphia in 1752, and it was to be installed in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), which was then under construction. The first time that it was rung, though, the bell cracked, and in 1753 it was melted down and re-cast by local foundry owners John Pass and John Stow. However, this second bell had a poor sound, so Pass and Stowe again re-cast it, and in 1753 it was hung in the steeple of the State House.

In the early years of the Liberty Bell’s history, Pennsylvania was still a British colony, and the Declaration of Independence was still several decades away. As such, Philadelphians would not have associated the bell with the concept of liberty, although it bore a rather prophetic inscription taken from Leviticus 25:10, which reads, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Instead, the fame of the Liberty Bell comes from the fact that it sat in the steeple of the State House when the Second Continental Congress declared independence in 1776. Despite popular belief,though, this bell did not ring on July 4 to mark the occasion, as the Declaration of Independence was not made public for another four days. The bell likely would have been one of many that were rung in Philadelphia on July 8 in order to celebrate the Declaration, although there is no direct evidence of this.

The Liberty Bell remained in its perch above the building until 1777, when retreating American forces took it down and removed it from the city, in order to prevent the British from seizing it and melting it down for munitions. The bell returned to Philadelphia a year later, although it was not re-installed in the steeple because of the deteriorated condition of the structure. It was put into storage for the next few years, and in 1781 the old steeple was demolished. Then, in 1785, the bell was installed in the truncated brick tower, beneath where the steeple had been.

It was at some point in the early 19th century, probably between 1817 and 1846, that the Liberty Bell cracked again, giving the bell its distinctive present-day appearance. Also during this time, Independence Hall underwent a renovation, with a new steeple built atop the tower in 1828. As part of this project, the city of Philadelphia also ordered a new bell to replace the old Liberty Bell. John Wilbank received the contract to make the new one, and part of his payment was the Liberty Bell itself, which had a scrap value of $400. However, the cost of removing it would have exceeded this amount, so he let the city keep the bell, thus preventing the historic relic from being melted down for scrap.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Liberty Bell was becoming widely recognized for its historic significance. In 1848, it was moved to the Assembly Room of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution had been signed, and it would remain on display there for the next 50 years. Then, in 1898, it was moved to a new location in the building, at the base of the tower, as shown in the first photo. However, during this time the Liberty Bell also went on tour, traveling by rail to various locations around the country. The last of these occurred in 1915, and the practice was subsequently ended, in part because of the many souvenir hunters who chipped off pieces of the bell during these traveling exhibitions.

Aside from these trips, the Liberty Bell was on display here in the tower hall throughout much of the 20th century. As the bell’s fame continued to grow, though, this space became inadequate for the increasing number of visitors who came here. In 1976, in anticipation of the crowds that would come to celebrate America’s bicentennial, it was relocated to the Liberty Bell Pavilion, which was constructed on the Independence Mall on the other side of Chestnut Street, opposite Independence Hall. It remained there for the next 27 years, but in 2003 it moved again, to the new, larger Liberty Bell Center. The bell is still on display there now, with the view of Independence Hall as its backdrop, and it draws an estimated one million visitors each year.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Independence Hall, seen from the north side across Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Independence Hall in 2019:

Independence Hall is one of the most important historic sites in the country, having been the place where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed. It served as the de facto capitol building of the United States from 1775 until 1783, but the building predates the American Revolution by several decades. Construction had begun in 1732, coincidentally the same year as George Washington’s birth, although it would be another 21 years before it was finally completed in 1753 as Pennsylvania’s first state house. It was built of brick, with Georgian-style architecture, and it featured the main building in the center, with a clock tower on the south side of it and wings to the east and west.

The Pennsylvania State House, as it was then known, was used by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly in the years leading up to the American Revolution, but starting in 1775 it was also put to use as the meeting place of the Second Continental Congress, which convened here on May 10 of that year. The war had begun less than a month earlier, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, and one of the early actions taken by the Congress was to create a Continental Army and appoint one of its own members, George Washington, to become commander. However, the Congress also attempted to bring about a reconciliation with Britain, sending the Olive Branch Petition to King George III in July.

Support for independence was by no means universal among the delegates of the Second Continental Congress, and it would take more than a year of war, along with the crown’s rejection of their peace overtures, before they finally agreed to declare independence. The vote on the resolution occurred here on July 2, 1776, and it passed without opposition. Writing to his wife Abigail a day later, John Adams predicted:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams would prove correct about everything except for the date. Although the resolution passed on July 2, the actual text of the Declaration was not approved until two days later, so July 4 was ultimately recognized as Independence Day. However, John Trumbull’s famous painting notwithstanding, the document does not appear to have been actually signed on July 4. Historians generally identify August 2 as the date when most delegates signed, although others would add their signatures in the subsequent months, including New Hampshire’s Matthew Thornton, who did not arrive in Philadelphia until November.

The Declaration of Independence asserted the new country’s sovereignty, although it would take another seven years of war before this fact was recognized by the British. Throughout this time, the Continental Congress continued to meet here in Independence Hall, although its stay was interrupted by two British occupations of Philadelphia. Congress evacuated the city in December 1776, returned in March 1777, and left again in September. It would not return here again until July 1778, and during these interim periods it met in Baltimore, Lancaster, and York. It was during its stay in York that the Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which would become the first national constitution. However, the Articles required unanimous support, and it did not go into effect until the last state, Maryland, signed the document here in Independence Hall in 1781.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government consisted of a unicameral legislature that is now usually referred to as the Congress of the Confederation. It was the successor to the Continental Congress, and it met here for the next two years. However, in June 1783 Congress was again compelled to evacuate Philadelphia. This time, though, it was not in the face of an invading British army, but rather an angry mob of about 400 American soldiers who were demanding payment for their wartime service. Congress had asked for assistance from the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which also met here in this building, but the council refused to call the state’s militia to suppress the riot. As a result, Congress left here on June 21, and reconvened nine days later at Nassau Hall in Princeton.

The Congress of the Confederation would never return to Philadelphia, and instead it met variously in Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York City over the next six years. However, Independence Hall did play one more important role in American government in 1787, when it became the meeting place for the Constitutional Convention. By this point, it had become clear that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate for effectively governing the country, so delegates from 12 states gathered here starting on May 25, with the stated purpose of “revising” the Articles.

It did not take the convention delegates long to realize that they needed to write a new constitution, as opposed to simply revising the existing one, although this prompted significant debate on issues such as how states should be represented in the legislature, and whether slaves should be counted toward a state’s population. The result was a constitution that was filled with compromises, creating a national government that was much stronger than the one under the Articles of Confederation, while at the same time reserving a significant amount of authority to the states. In all, the convention lasted just under four months, and the final document was signed here on September 17, 1787.

The Constitution went into effect in 1789, and a year later the new federal government returned to Philadelphia, where it would remain for the next 10 years before permanently relocating to Washington, D.C. However, instead of using Independence Hall, Congress met in a new building located immediately to the west of here, at the corner of Chestnut and 6th Streets. Around the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court moved into a matching building on the other side of Independence Hall, at the corner of 5th Street.

Philadelphia lost its role as the national capital in 1800, but a year earlier it had also lost the state capital, when the state government moved to Lancaster. This left Independence Hall without any governmental use, although during the early 19th century the second floor housed a natural history museum and portrait gallery that was run by artist Charles Willson Peale. The building’s exterior also changed during this time, starting with the removal of the original wooden steeple in 1781. It had become badly deteriorated by that point, and it was not immediately replaced; instead, the brick tower was topped with a low roof. Another major change came in 1812, when the original wings were demolished and replaced by new buildings along Chestnut Street.

Independence Hall itself also faced potential demolition, but this threat was averted when the city of Philadelphia purchased the property from the state in 1816. Over time, the building came to be known as Independence Hall, rather than the State House, and in 1825 the square on the south side was named Independence Square. Then, in 1828, the exterior was restored with the addition of a new steeple, which was designed by architect William Strickland. It was based on the design of the original one, but it had some differences, including the addition of a clock. Unlike its predecessor, which lasted less than 30 years before rotting away, Strickland’s steeple is still standing atop the tower nearly two centuries later.

During the 19th century, the building came to be recognized as a major symbol of the American Revolution, and over the years both it and the surrounding grounds were the site of countless patriotic events and public demonstrations. Perhaps the first came in 1824, when the Marquis de Lafayette was received here during his farewell tour of America, but subsequent speakers and demonstrators included Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and various labor unions, all of whom sought to connect their connect their causes to the ideals that the Founding Fathers had expressed here.

By the time the first photo was taken at the turn of the 20th century, the exterior of the building had undergone another change. The 1812 wings were demolished in 1898, and were replaced with replicas of the originals, including the arched brick arcades that connected the wings to the main building. Another change to this scene came in 1869, when a marble statue of George Washington was installed here in front of Independence Hall. It was the work of sculptor Joseph A. Bailly, and it appears in the first photo. However, by the early 20th century it had begun to deteriorate, and in 1910 it was replaced with a bronze copy, which still stands here today.

More than a century after the first photo was taken, the statue remains the only significant change to this scene. Independence Hall remains well-preserved, and it stands as the focal point of the Independence National Historical Park, which was established in 1948. It has also been designated as a National Historic Landmark, and it is one of only 24 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States. The building is open to the public for guided tours, and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the northeast, with over 4 million visitors to the park each year.

Mount Vernon, Virginia (2)

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Another view of the Mount Vernon mansion, seen from the bowling green on the west side of the house, around the 1860s or 1870s. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The mansion in 2018:

As discussed in the previous post, the Mount Vernon estate had been in the Washington family since 1674, when John Washington acquired the land. However, it was his grandson, Augustine Washington – the father of the future president – who constructed the original section of the mansion here on this site, in 1734. At the time, it was only one story, with a garret for the second floor, and it was comprised of what is now the four windows in the middle of the house.

George Washington’s older half brother, Lawrence Washington, later received the property from their father, and he lived here until his death in 1752. His widow, Anne, subsequently leased Mount Vernon to George Washington, starting in 1754. Four years later, he began the first expansion of the house, adding a full second floor with a garret above it. He gained ownership of the estate when Anne died in 1761, and in 1774 he embarked on an even more ambitious project, with two-story additions on both sides of the house.

The mid-1770s renovations also included two new outbuildings, which were connected to the house by colonnades, as shown in these photos. The building on the right was the kitchen, and it had three rooms on the first floor, along with a loft on the second floor. Like many kitchens of this period, it was separated from the main house as a fire safety measure. The building on the left was known as Servants Hall, and it had a design that matched that of the kitchen.. Although Washington did have slave quarters nearby, none of his slaves lived here. Instead, this building was used to house the servants – both black and white – of visitors to Mount Vernon.

George Washington lived here until his death in 1799, and Martha Washington died in 1802. They had no biological children together, so the estate went to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, who served for many years as a justice on the U. S. Supreme Court. The property was later inherited by Bushrod’s nephew, John Augustine Washington II, and then by John’s son, John Augustine Washington III.

Over the years, these later generations of the Washington family struggled to maintain the expensive estate, and in 1858 John Augustine Washington III sold it to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Under their ownership, the mansion was restored, and in 1860 it was opened to the public as one of the nation’s first historic tourist destinations. The first photo was probably taken within a decade or two after this, and it shows the house as it would have appeared to a Victorian-era visitor.

Today, some 150 years after this photo was taken, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association continues to operate the property as a museum. The mansion and the two outbuildings that are shown here have been well-maintained throughout this time, and there is hardly any difference between these two photos. Mount Vernon was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960, becoming one of the first places to be recognized as such, and it remains a popular tourist attraction, drawing around a million visitors each year.

Mount Vernon, Virginia

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The Mount Vernon mansion in Virginia, as seen from the west side, around 1910-1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2018:

The land that would become the Mount Vernon estate had been in the Washington family since 1674, when John Washington – an English immigrant and great-grandfather of the future president – acquired the property. It was subsequently owned by his son Lawrence, and then Lawrence’s daughter Mildred, before being purchased by Mildred’s brother Augustine Washington in 1726.

Augustine Washington was 31 years old at the time, and had a wife, Jane, and three children. However, Jane died only a few years later, and in 1731 he remarried to Mary Ball, with whom he had six more children. The oldest of these was George Washington, who was born in 1732 at Popes Creek, a plantation further south of here along the Potomac River. The Washington family lived there for several more years, but around 1734 Augustine constructed the earliest portion of the mansion house here at Mount Vernon, which was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation at the time.

Around 1739, Augustine and his family moved to Fredericksburg, and left Little Hunting Creek to his oldest son, Lawrence. In 1743, Lawrence married Anne Fairfax, and he renamed the plantation Mount Vernon, in honor of his former commanding officer, Admiral Edward Vernon. The couple had four children here, although none of them survived childhood, and both Lawrence and Anne also died young, in 1752 and 1761, respectively.

In his will, Lawrence left Mount Vernon to his wife for the rest of her life, with his brother George to inherit the property upon her death. In 1754, George Washington began leasing Mount Vernon from Anne, and in 1758 he expanded the original house, likely in preparation for his upcoming marriage to Martha Dandridge Custis. The house had been built with only one story, along with a garret above it, but Washington added a full second story, with a garret on the third floor. Following the completion of this project, the house consisted of what is now the central portion of the building.

George Washington acquired the property outright when Anne died in 1761, and in 1774 he began the second major expansion, with two-story additions on either side of the house. The pediment was also added during this time, as was the iconic two-story portico on the east side of the house. The interior work would not be finished until 1787, but the exterior was completed in 1775, the same year that Washington left Mount Vernon to take command of the Continental Army. Washington himself is generally credited with designing the plans for the addition, thus adding architect to his lengthy list of accomplishments.

Although he would spend many years away from Mount Vernon during the American Revolution and during his presidency, the estate would be his home for the rest of his life, until his death here on December 14, 1799. Martha Washington died two and a half years later, and Washington’s nephew, Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington, subsequently inherited Mount Vernon. After Bushrod’s death in 1829, his nephew, John Augustine Washington II, inherited it, followed by John’s son, John Augustine Washington III.

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, though, the various generations of Washingtons struggled to maintain the property. As is often the case with landed aristocrats, they were land rich but cash poor, and Mount Vernon suffered neglect because of the cost of upkeep. Finally, in 1858, John Augustine Washington III sold the mansion and surrounding land to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. This organization subsequently restored the property, making it one of the first historic house museums in the country.

Mount Vernon opened for visitors in 1860, and it has remained a popular tourist attraction ever since. The first photo was taken some 50-60 years later, and it shows the view of the mansion from the west, looking across the bowling green. Today, hardly anything has changed in this scene. The property is still operated by Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which remains an independent nonprofit organization, and it draws an estimated one million visitors each year. Because of its historical significance, Mount Vernon was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960, making it one of the first sites in the country to receive this recognition.

Arlington House, Arlington, Virginia

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The Arlington House in Arlington National Cemetery, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The house in 2018:

This house was built over a period of 15 years between 1803 and 1818, and it was originally the home of George Washington Parke Custis. Born in 1781, Custis was the grandson of Martha Washington, from her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. His father, John Parke “Jacky” Custis, had died when George Washington Parke Custis was only a few months old, and George and Martha subsequently raised him as their adopted son. George Washington died in 1799, and Martha in 1802, leaving Custis a significant inheritance. Also in 1802, Custis turned 21, thus inheriting a fortune in money and land from his late father.

Among his father’s land holdings was an 1,100-acre estate on the Potomac River, overlooking the newly-established national capital of Washington. He named the property Arlington, and soon began construction on a mansion, which would become known as Arlington House. For the design, he hired George Hadfield, a noted architect who was responsible for several important buildings in Washington. The exterior of the house featured a very early example of Greek Revival architecture, with its most distinctive feature being the eight large columns here on the front portico. Although it appears to be built of sandstone and marble, the exterior is actually stucco-covered brick, which was intended to give it the appearance of stone.

The War of 1812 delayed construction of the house, but it was completed in 1818. Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, would go on to live here for the rest of their lives, until her death in 1853 and his in 1857. They had four children, although only one, Mary Anna Randolph Curtis, lived to adulthood. In 1831, at the age of 23, she married 24-year-old army officer Robert E. Lee, in a ceremony that was held here at Arlington House. It would be their home for the next 30 years, during which time Lee steadily rose in rank from a lieutenant to a colonel in the United States Army. He served in the Mexican-American War, and more than a decade later he led the group of soldiers that suppressed John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry.

Lee’s wife Mary inherited Arlington House after her father’s death in 1857, but the family did not get to enjoy the property for much longer. On April 16, 1861, four days after the attack on Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln offered Lee command of the main Union army. However, Virginia declared its secession the following day, and Lee declined the offer. Instead, he resigned his commission in the the United States Army and joined the Confederate States Army, where he would command the Army of Northern Virginia for most of the war.

In the meantime, Arlington House quickly became a target for Union forces who were defending Washington. Because of its prominent location overlooking the city, it was imperative that it not fall into Confederate hands. The house was seized on May 24, 1861, and it subsequently became the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. Despite this occupation, though, the Lee family formally continued to own the house until 1864, when it was taken by the federal government for nonpayment of taxes.

Later in 1864, with the Union needing more space to bury soldiers killed in the war, the property became Arlington National Cemetery. Part of the intention behind this move was to forever deprive Lee of the use of the estate, and to that end many of the early burials were right near the house. The first interment occurred on May 13, and thousands more would follow in the remaining 11 months of the war. These included the remains of 2,111 unidentified Union and Confederate soldiers, whose remains were collected from various battlefields. They were buried in a vault behind and to the left of the house, and the spot is marked by the Civil War Unknowns Monument.

Following the war, neither Robert E. Lee nor Mary Lee ever attempted to reclaim the title of the estate, although their oldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, successfully sued for its return. However, not interested in living in the middle of a cemetery, he then sold the property back to the federal government in 1883 for $150,000. In the ensuing years, though, the government directed most of its attention to the cemetery itself, with little concern for the mansion. By the time the first photo was taken around 1900, the house was largely unused, and the immediate grounds had been heavily altered from their prewar appearance.

The mansion was finally restored in the late 1920s, although the original focus was on the Custis family, as opposed to the Lees. However, in 1955 the house was renamed the Custis-Lee Mansion, and then in 1972 it became Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, thus placing a greater emphasis on Lee’s connection to the house. It has remained in use as a museum since then, although it was closed for renovations in early 2018, a few months before the first photo was taken. As part of this project, the house will be restored to its 1860 appearance, and the slave quarters and surrounding grounds will also be restored. The work will cost an estimated $12.35 million, and it is scheduled to be completed in January 2020.

US Capitol, Washington, DC

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The dome of the United States Capitol, seen from the southwest side of the building, around 1902. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2018:

The history of the United States Capitol dates back to 1793, when George Washington laid the cornerstone of the building. It was first used by Congress in 1800, when the south wing was completed, and the north wing followed in 1807. However, the Capitol was burned by British forces during the invasion of Washington in 1814, and it would not ultimately be completed until 1826. At the time, though, the building looked very different from its current appearance. As shown in this earlier post, it consisted of only rotunda, topped by a low dome, and a small wing on either side of it.

It was not until the 1850s that the Capitol began to take on its current exterior appearance. As the nation grew, so did the size of Congress, and this required the construction of new legislative chambers here in the Capitol. This led to new, larger wings next to the old chambers, along with a larger dome to better suit the scale of the expanded building. The new House and Senate chambers were completed in 1857 and 1859, respectively, but the dome would take longer. As discussed in another previous post, it was still very much unfinished at the outbreak of the Civil War, but it was ultimately completed in 1866.

This dome would become the most distinctive part of the Capitol, serving as a symbol for both Congress and the federal government as a whole. Unlike the rest of the building, the dome is made of cast iron, and at 288 feet it is the tallest cast iron dome in the world. It was the work of architect Thomas U. Walter, who based his design on notable European domes, such as those of the Pantheon and St. Paul’s Cathedral. At the top of the dome is the Statue of Freedom, a 19.5-foot, 15,000-pound bronze statue that was designed by sculptor Thomas Crawford and installed in 1863.

By the time the first photo was taken at the turn of the 20th century, the Capitol had largely assumed its modern-day appearance. Aside from a late 1950s expansion of the east front, on the opposite side of the building, nearly all of the work done to the building since then has involved conservation and restoration. Today, more than 115 years after the first photo was taken, this particular scene has remained virtually unchanged. However, perhaps the only difference is the level of security at the Capitol. The first photo shows a group of five people descending the steps, but today these steps are closed, and the only public access to the Capitol is through the Capitol Visitor Center, located on the opposite side of the building.