PERTH AMBOY, NJ — This weekend, learn some fascinating U.S. history that took place right in Perth Amboy:
At 1 p.m. on July 4, in the shadow of Perth Amboy City Hall — which has stood there since 1714 — a small crowd will fall quiet in Market Square as a replica of the Liberty Bell is rung thirteen times — once for each of the original colonies.
It is a tradition Perth Amboy has carried for decades, and this year, as the nation marks its 250th anniversary, the ceremony carries even more impact.
American history is not abstract here. It was in Perth Amboy, on June 19, 1776, that William Franklin — New Jersey's last royal governor and the estranged son of Benjamin Franklin — was arrested at his home by Continental Army troops, just two weeks before his father signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
Father and son had once been close, living together in London, but split irreparably as one became a revolutionary and the other remained loyal to the crown. William was marched under armed guard through Middlesex County to stand trial, eventually exiled to Connecticut and later to England. He never returned to America and died in England.
The mansion he was taken from, the Proprietary House on Kearny Avenue in Perth Amboy, still stands today — the only original governor's residence among the thirteen colonies still in existence.
Of New Jersey's 564 municipalities, only Perth Amboy has its own Liberty Bell. The replica was cast in France and given to the city by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under President Harry Truman, one of 53 cast as part of a campaign encouraging Americans to buy U.S. Savings Bonds. Every state and territory received one. Most went to state capitals. New Jersey's came here instead.
“It's an exact replica — except ours doesn't have a crack,” said City Historian John Kerry Dyke, who has spent a lifetime tracing why Perth Amboy, not Trenton, became the bell's home. The likeliest answer reaches back to the Revolution itself: before Trenton was the capital, Perth Amboy was the seat of royal government in colonial New Jersey, the place where the crown's authority in this colony was both held and ultimately broken.
City Hall itself, the backdrop for this year's ceremony, is believed to be the oldest municipal building in continuous operation in the United States. Its second-floor chamber — now where City Council meets — is where the New Jersey Assembly ratified the Bill of Rights on November 20, 1789, making New Jersey the first state to do so. And it was on those same steps, in 1870, that Thomas Mundy Peterson cast the first vote by an African American under the newly ratified 15th Amendment, an act the state legislature now honors each March 31st as Thomas Mundy Peterson Day.
“This is one of my favorite days as mayor,” said Perth Amboy Mayor Helmin Caba. “Hearing that bell ring 13 times, knowing what this city went through to get here — it's a reminder of how far we've come, and how much this small piece of New Jersey shaped the bigger story of America.”
The ceremony itself follows a ritual that has changed little over the years: cannons fired by reenactors, muskets, fife and drum, a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, and finally, the bell. The tolling fulfills a 1963 congressional resolution directing every state to ring its Liberty Bell each Fourth of July — though historians note the original bell in Philadelphia likely didn't ring on July 4, 1776 at all, but four days later, at the first public reading of the Declaration.
“Here in old Perth Amboy, we celebrate Independence Day in a tradition that goes back to 1776,” Mayor Caba added. “As was done by colonial troops 249 years ago, we fire cannons, shoot muskets, play fife and drums, and read the Declaration of Independence in our historic City Hall Circle. It is a grand ceremony.”
Liberty Bell Ringing Ceremony: Friday, July 4th, Perth Amboy City Hall Circle (Rain location: Abundant Life Worship Center, 224 High Street)
Sign up for free local newsletters and alerts for the
Matawan, NJ Patch
Patch.com is the nationwide leader in hyperlocal news.
Visit Patch.com to find your town today.