Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George, left, and attorney John Mowbray on Friday discuss the replica of the Liberty Bell, which will have its first official ringing on Nevada Day, Oct. 27. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

For a few seconds Friday, the deep, clear ring of freedom could be heard above the rumble of traffic in downtown Las Vegas.

While construction crews paused in their effort to mount the exact replica of the Liberty Bell, a worker struck the clapper against the 1-ton bronze bell, putting smiles on the faces of attorney John Mowbray and Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George.

Mowbray, chairman of the Let Freedom Ring Executive Committee, and George, the namesake of the nearby federal courthouse, helped steer the project to put a full-scale replica of the Liberty Bell at the plaza at Fourth Street and Lewis Avenue as a symbol to anchor Las Vegas' legal history corridor.

"I don't think there is a better icon to personify the struggles of our republic," Mowbray said. "We'll have it for all the future Fourth of July celebrations and 9/11 memorials. This will be the spot."

George said it is fitting to have the nation's symbol of freedom on display in Las Vegas.

"What could be more appropriate than what we have with the times we have now," George said.

Made in an Ohio foundry, the bell's first official ringing will be on Nevada Day, at 10 a.m. Oct. 27.

Mowbray said it will sound just like the original Liberty Bell that rang on July 8, 1776, for citizens to come to Philadelphia's Independence Hall to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Before that, the Liberty Bell tolled for the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775; the assembly of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and when Benjamin Franklin was sent to England in 1757 to voice concerns of the colonists.

"It's a symbol of everything that's good about our country," George said.

Some $200,000 in private funding was raised by law firms, Clark County Bar Association members, and civic-minded benefactors for the Clark County Law Foundation to build and install the bell as the first phase of a cultural boost for the downtown area.

The fundraising effort continues, Mowbray said.

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