Talk:Liberty Bell (Portland, Oregon)

Terry Schrunk Plaza

This source suggests the bell was once installed in Terry Schrunk Plaza:

• "The Suzhou Stone was replaced by the Liberty Bell replica now located on the northeast corner of the City Hall block."
• "In 1963 an exact replica of the Liberty Bell all the way from Baltimore Maryland was presented to the city on the 4th of July. It found a home in the east entrance portico. During the Vietnam War protests in 1970 a bomb explosion shattered it. It was repaired and moved across the street to Terry Schrunk Plaza. When the building reopened in 1998 the Liberty Bell was moved back to City Hall."

---Another Believer _(Talk) 18:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Please see ongoing discussion at User_talk:Another_Believer#Liberty_Bell. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 18:31, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

@TaupeGun: Making you aware of this discussion as well. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 18:36, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

@Grand'mere Eugene: Sorry to single you out specifically, but I was wondering if you might be willing to review the article's current text/sourcing and this newly-discovered claim about the bell's installation in Terry Schrunk Plaza. The article only has 12 inline citations, so this is not a major project. If you're not interested, no worries, I just know you have an interest in visual arts and Oregon history. I also posted a note about this on the WikiProject Oregon talk page. Thanks! ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:05, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

@Another Believer: I'm happy to take a look. Cheers! Grand'mere Eugene (talk) 19:52, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

The link to Waymarking in the end of the article says the same : "A new bell was purchased for $8,000 and later moved to Terry Schrunk Plaza." --TaupeGun (talk) 21:32, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

There are a few discrepancies here: 1) $6,000 vs. $8,000, 2) whether just the first replica, or both, were made by McShane Bell Foundry, and 3) if the second replica was installed in Terry Schrunk Plaza or outside City Hall. We should also keep in mind, Waymarking is user-generated content, and not considered reliable secondary coverage. I definitely think we should stick to newspapers when possible. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 21:35, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

@Another Believer: I think that there was a complicated shuffling of two monumental stones and the Liberty Bell.

Since I found no additional useful sources on the second Liberty Bell, I looked for sources on the history of the Suzhous Stone (also known as Lake Tai Rock). Before the donation of the Suzhou Stone the "Wallula Stone" stood by the east portico.

This source helps clarify the timeline regarding the Suzhou Stone. In 1996, Mayor Vera Katz authorized the Suzhou Stone to be placed on "a small plaza on the Fourth Avenue side of City Hall, occupied until July by a 10-ton ancient petroglyph. The 15,000-year-old Wallula Stone has been returned to its rightful owners, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation."

In 1998, according to the potland.gov source, the Liberty Bell was returned to the area outside City Hall.

This is what I infer (but haven't found sources yet that say this clearly): The second replica Liberty Bell was apparently installed at Terry Schrunk Plaza from 1972 to 1998. In July 1996, the Suzhou Stone was moved to Terry Schrunk Park, as according to this source, "its weight finally mandated its placement atop a large structural column in the parking structure underneath the park".

Still looking... Cheers! — Grand'mere Eugene (talk) 00:17, 10 January 2019 (UTC)