This blog is a bit eclectic, as I’m sure you noticed. This post isn’t about taking photos or even places where photos were taken. This post is about the past, the present, and how to encourage public discussions on citizenship. On the west coast we don’t get a chance to visit locations where all the action happened in 1776. A vacation from the west coast to the east coast is expensive and some of the distances along the eastern seaboard are great. I suppose it’s like trying to see San Francisco and Disneyland in the same California trip if you’ve come from anywhere east of the Rockies. Not unlike a visit to Los Angeles or San Francisco, a visit to Boston or Washington D.C are each a single trip, not one to be taken all at once. A trip to Pennsylvania to see Independence Hall and Gettysburg should be it’s own trip also.  

I’m not sure what there is to do and see in Philly aside other than eat steak sandwiches, watch baseball and go to Independence Hall. A drive out to Gettysburg would seem wise in the same trip. If the expense is too great for that vacation, in Orange County we have a replica of Independence Hall. I decided to visit this year on July 4. I’ve been to the building a couple of times in the past. The first memory was on July 4, 1966. That’s the day the building was dedicated by Walter Knott (of Boysenberry fame.) The city of Buena Park had a big parade down Beach Boulevard and then the city officials had a ceremony. I participated as a little cub scout in the parade and vaguely remember some official stuff. I returned once or twice in high school as most of Knotts Berry Farm was either free or very inexpensive. In those days entrance into Ghost Town was a single fee and rides could be purchased individually.

There was a lot to do if you were broke because Walter Knott had a large collection of old west relics. In addition to gold pans and the like, there was a music box collection scattered around Ghost Town that could be individually listened to for about ten cents each. I have fond memories of the large platters with holes punched through or cylinders with needles that made the music play. He had an old model T truck and, well you get the idea. Independence Hall followed the theme of American history. Just across the street and accessible via a tunnel underneath Beach Boulevard Independence Hall was free to attend. It featured an audio reenactment of the debate on the Declaration. In a cleaver trick of the senses, speakers were hidden underneath the tables so you could follow the conversation around the room. John Adams, Edward Rutledge, William Henry Lee, and Benjamin Franklin all came alive in the audio presentation.

So, with a few fond but faint memories I decided to revisit Independence Hall on Independence Day. To say I was disappointed with the experience is an understatement. I was a little apprehensive about visiting on the holiday as I thought the crowds would be large. It turned out there were less than a dozen people who visited during the entire time I spent at the building. In the signing room, the green tablecloths on the delegates tables looked like they were being used to protect the furniture from dust, they were so dirty. The chairs looked like they hadn’t been dusted in a very long time. I asked the clerk from the store on the other side of the building if the audio program worked. He said, “No, it takes a key, and I don’t have it, I don’t think it works anyway”, and he walked away.

Meanwhile, back at his register I noticed the lights were not on in the large hall where the souvenirs and merchandise were for sale. The main light fixture in the center was turned off (a duplicate of the period piece from 1776) and the stage lights in the corners and overhead to light static displays were out also. 

Only a patriot would spend his own money to recreate such a famous building. The colors on the walls and the furniture and fixtures were researched to be identical to that day in 1776 when the Declaration was signed. Walter Knott has made the attraction free forever. Money shouldn’t be a factor in learning about the principles our nation is built upon. A nation comprised of all who would embrace an ideal. Judging from its condition, the current corporation doesn’t give a whit about the building, its theme, or the legacy of Mr. Knott.

This building could further the understanding and dream of Walter Knott, one that advances the understanding of American history for local families, schools, and researchers. It could be a repository on the west coast for documents, talks, and traveling exhibits on the revolutionary period. With a vision,  a little effort, and a lot of work I’m convinced grant funding could be procured to help create programming that would make this Independence Hall a local beacon of history and its importance to the modern world. There are almost too many colleges to count within driving distance that have quality professors of American history, UCLA, UCI, UCR, Cal State Fullerton and Pomona, and a host of private liberal arts and community colleges. Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration and third president of the United States was a slave holder his entire life. An ongoing conversation about his words “all men are created equal” and our struggle through the past 240 plus years to make them true for all Americans is as important today as it was when they were written. Independence Hall could be a great venue to host those discussions.

It appears the corporation isn’t interested in carrying out these activities. This is the problem with private historical property. Apparently, the building doesn’t make enough money to showcase it on the property. Shouldn’t it be in the public sphere where profit doesn’t determine its current or future condition? In a time period when we are having a public discussion about monuments, Knott’s Independence Hall should be public property.