Planning for the Quarter-Millennial celebration of American democracy next year is much more in the past than it was for the magnificent Bicentennial in 1976. Our recent experience with top wakingness, a time when we had no desire to celebrate the founding of our country, is terrible. The good news is that with President Trump’s victory, things have changed dramatically, and Task Force 250 was established to help strategy” a great party worthy of the momentous event of the 250th anniversary of American freedom on July 4, 2026.”
The restoration of the steam-powered American Freedom Train, which was the core of the nationalist Bicentennial party, would definitely help create the Quarter-Millennial a grand party — one that runs from coast to coast and hits cities all across America. That station may not be up on its tracks until 2026.
The Quarter-Millennial needs to be more than just an occasion held on July 4— and more than just an event held in Washington, D. C., or any other individual location. It should be a year-long federal party. However, the Bicentennial holidays lasted more than a year. They started in April 1975, which also happened 200 years ago when shots rang out at Lexington and Concord. The inauguration of the American Freedom Train on April 1 marked the event’s entry.
Painted purple, white, and blue, the American Freedom Train was a mark both of America and of America’s record as a nation of explorers and inhabitants. Portland, Oregon donated a gas engine, evoking America’s investigation of the West, and it was refurbished for the event. According to the site for the American Freedom Train, it is “doubtless the most photographed train in the world,” pulling train cars full of British historical artifacts from April 1, 1975, to December 31, 1976, traveling 25, 833 miles — substantially more than the Earth’s diameter.
The train’s remarkable collection of historical artifacts included Paul Revere’s saddlebags, a 1776 edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, George Washington’s copy of the Constitution, the first Bible printed in the U. S., the Louisiana Purchase agreement, the” Battle Hymn of the Republic” manuscript, baseball bats from Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams, John F. Kennedy’s handwritten copy of his inaugural address, a moon rock, Revolutionary War muskets and Gold Rush pickaxes, a double-sized replica of the Liberty Bell, and enough else to fill a total of 12 display cars. At stops, people were escorted through the exhibit cars using moving walkways, moving at a rate of 800 per hour over each 14-hour display day, with each visitor receiving a narration of the exhibits through individual audio devices.
In all, the train stopped in 138 cities, where more than 7 million people boarded it and viewed its displays — an average of more than 50, 000 people per stop. Far more saw the train along the way, as it passed within one hour’s drive of 90 percent of the U. S. population. As the train passed through towns and had 20 pairs of windows, Americans could glimpse some of the intriguing contents inside.
Johnny and June Carter Cash performed at the train’s stop in Tempe, Arizona, and the Beach Boys ‘ Mike Love did so at the stop in Omaha. The queue to board encircled the entire” Big A” ( Angels Stadium ) in Anaheim, where Buzz Aldrin and Mickey Mouse were seen arriving. Hank Aaron boarded in Detroit, where the train stopped for July 4, 1975. On July 1, 1976, Mamie Eisenhower rode it from Gettysburg to York, before it spent July 4, 1976 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Ross Rowland, a train enthusiast from a three-generation railroad family, came up with the idea for The American Freedom Train. His concept was made possible when he persuaded PepsiCo’s Chairman of the Board, Donald Kendall, that the train merited the company’s financial support. He was then the chairman of the board. With PepsiCo on board, General Motors, Prudential, and Kraft also contributed significantly. As Kendall observed at a ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia, attended by President Gerald Ford, the steam train was itself a symbol of America’s remarkable history.
The American Freedom Train made its final stop in Miami at the end of its Bicentennial tour three days later, and President Ford thanked Rowland for his letter of appreciation, noting that” This rolling museum of American artifacts, using the railroad tracks that criss-cross our country and which, in their own way, are so much a part of our heritage, brought the story of America to the people in all parts of the land.”
The American Freedom Train was described as “one of the most significant — unquestionably the most visible and national in scope ] of the many projects planned to honor America during the Bicentennial,” according to John Warner, who became a Republican senator after serving as the director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration ( the official planning committee for the Bicentennial ). The steam train, Warner said, was able to” sew together” the “local Bicentennial projects going on in every state and nearly every community in our great country”.
Obviously, the American Freedom Train won’t be ready on April 1, 2025, the 50th anniversary of its last launch. But there’s no reason it couldn’t be ready by January 1, or at least April 1, of our Quarter-Millennial anniversary year. Rowland is still alive and reportedly still quite sharp, giving him a wealth of valuable insights, even though the blueprint was used the last time. ( Kendall died four years ago, at the age of 99.) The American Freedom Train should be able to cross the tracks in less time than that, which would help demonstrate that Americans can still accomplish things quickly. The Empire State Building could be constructed in less time.
As a mobile reminder of America’s greatness, the American Freedom Train would pair nicely with President Trump’s proposed National Garden of American Heroes. The former would be a fixed tribute to America’s finest, while the former would be a historically significant symbol of the country moving, drawing in millions of Americans from all over the country. All aboard!
