It hasn’t been rung since 1846, even so, the Liberty Bell rings in the hearts of every American.

There was a time when some worried it would be destroyed.

When people visit Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell is regularly a must see.

“The bell was usually referred to as the Pennsylvania State House Bell, because Independence Hall back there was originally called the Pennsylvania State House,” said Ranger Hugh Evans with the U.S. Park Service.

And that’s where it was in 1777 when the war for independence from England was raging.

Back then, Allentown was known as Northampton town.

“Allentown had only been founded by William Allen in the seven in 1760 and so you figure Allentown at that point was just a barely a community,” said Historian Frank Whelan.

It was a frontier community focused on farming.

But following the Continental Army’s loss at the Battle of Brandywine, Allentown’s farmers were given a new task.

To hide the Liberty Bell.

“It was taken down when, right before the British invaded Philadelphia, it was taken down along with a lot of other bells,” said Jill Youngken, Assistant Director and Chief Curator for the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum.

At the time, bells were a critical means of communication.

It was feared that if captured, the British might melt down the Liberty Bell to make cannons or ammunition to be used against the Continental Army.

A plan was devised to sneak the Liberty Bell out of Philadelphia.

“There were a lot of the farmers from Allentown who regularly went down to Philadelphia and with their wagons in the market, with their produce to sell in the market in Philadelphia,” said Whelan.

The two-thousand-pound bell was loaded into one of those wagons and disguised as hay bales, headed for Allentown.

But the wagon broke down along the way, the precious bell was loaded into a second wagon to complete the journey.

“The pastor, Abraham Blumer, at the church in Allentown Zions church, was apparently very active in the cause,” said Whelan.

The Liberty Bell was taken to Zion’s Reformed Church on Hamilton Street and hidden under its floorboards.

It returned to Philadelphia after the British left the city in June of 1778.

Today, roughly two million people visit the Liberty Bell each year.

And if you’re wondering how it got its name, “It has to do with the inscription at the top of the bell which says, ‘Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,’” said Evans.

That quote comes from the book of Leviticus, chapter 25, verse 10 in the Old Testament of the Bible.

69 News is celebrating the 250th birthday of our nation with a special one-hour presentation of Lehigh Valley 1776, a documentary on the area’s role in the Revolutionary War.

Lehigh Valley 1776 airs July 4th at 6:30 p.m.