THEN: Seattle-area residents queue up to board the “Spirit of 1776” Freedom Train and see more than 125 artifacts of “Americanism” on April 9-10, 1948, at King Street Station, where attendance exceeded 15,000. The train’s 16-month journey featured stops in 329 cities in all of the country’s then-48 states, drawing 3.5 million visitors. The scene is flanked by the Smith Tower, left, and Harborview Hospital. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, courtesy Museum of History & Industry)NOW: On the Weller Street overpass near the King Street Station site of the Freedom Train’s 1948 stop in Seattle are, from left, Leonard Garfield, Museum of History & Industry executive director, with staff Joy Guo, graphic designer; Michelle Acuna, development and membership coordinator; and Allie Delyanis, digital media specialist. MOHAI will host one of eight national visits of the Boeing 737 “Freedom Plane” July 30-Aug. 16 as part of a slate of “America 250” events this summer. (Clay Eals)
Published in The Seattle Times online on April 16, 2026
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on April 19, 2026
Artifacts of ‘Americanism’ drew 15,000
to Freedom Train here April 9-10, 1948
By Clay Eals
Was it really such a different time? We’re talking 1947: post-World War II, the baby boom, new prosperity, nuclear anxiety, the Red Scare and a just-minted United Nations peace mission.
The Freedom Train website: history, timeline and much more.
That year, with President Harry Truman’s “strongest endorsement,” a National Archives brainchild became reality. A traveling museum called the Freedom Train began a $10-million, 37,000-mile trek to 329 cities, including seven in our state. Its purpose: to display, behind half-inch glass, the Bill of Rights, a Declaration of Independence draft in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, the UN charter and 125 other artifacts of “Americanism.”
Sept. 23, 1947, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p3.
The red-and-blue-striped, seven-coach train welcomed people age 12 and older at its send-off Sept. 17 (Constitution Day) in Philadelphia. The following April 9, it reached Seattle’s King Street Station, where 15,000-plus boarded to see the Marine-guarded exhibit over two days.
“In these hardened days when too many feel that it’s sissified to give way to sentiment and emotions,” wrote Seattle Times columnist Carl E. Brazier, ”the actual sight of these original documents will do more to instill a personal sense of pride in this country of ours than all the soap-boxers, microphone-ranters and dime-a-word writers we’ve had in years.”
The train encountered bumps. The Communist Party — “Commies” in a Seattle Times headline — attacked its “Wall Street imperialism.” In Philadelphia, 30 picketers sought amnesty for conscientious objectors imprisoned during the war. And the train’s sponsoring American Heritage Foundation bypassed Memphis and Birmingham altogether when their officials threatened to segregate visitor lines.
THEN: During the Freedom Train’s March 31, 1948, stop in Yakima, Kiutus Jim, center, Yakama Nation member who received a Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart during World War I, shows a document to his sons, from left, Ralph, Russell and Robert Jim. They are viewing the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, which charted how to govern land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi and create a path to statehood. Besides Seattle and Yakima, the train visited Walla Walla, Olympia, Tacoma, Wenatchee and Spokane. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, courtesy Museum of History & Industry)
Here, crowds were reverent. Billy Johnson, 12, of Broadview Elementary, praised a “Star-Spangled Banner” draft (“We sing that in school all the time”). Col. Desmond Canavan of Lake City savored a sooty U.S. flag from Iwo Jima (“That flag means a lot to us who came back”).
A city judge let Ike McCoy, 38, serving an 80-day sentence for drunkenness, tour the train unsupervised. After a five-hour wait in line, McCoy visited, then walked back to jail. “It was very inspirational,” he said. “I tried to explain to a couple next to me that I was in jail. I figure they thought I was nuts.”
THEN: As part of a local American Heritage Week starting April 3, 1948, prior to the April 9-10 Seattle stop of the Freedom Train, Jessie Oflock, left, and Ora Jean Green hang a welcome banner over the entrance to Seattle’s County-City Building. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, courtesy Museum of History & Industry)
Seattle’s embrace of mobile heritage lingered in late 1975 when a Bicentennial train rolled through town. It continues this summer when the Museum of History & Industry hosts a “Freedom Plane” exhibit as part of “America 250” events.
President Harry S Truman, 1947. (Politico)
But Truman’s message at the first train’s launch remains timeless — and, some would say, especially so today:
“I pray that each individual citizen everywhere will determine in his heart to continue to fight against bigotry and intolerance and will determine to do all in his power to assure the blessings of liberty in full measure for every American and for mankind.”
WEB EXTRAS
Big thanks to Leonard Garfield, Joy Guo, Michelle Acuna and especially Allie Delyanisfor their invaluable help with this installment!
To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos while hearing this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.
Virginia V America 250 Tour: Mosquito Fleet — July 8 and Aug. 26, 2026: A unique, on-the-water experience connecting regional maritime history to national narratives.
Power of the Press — July 18, 2026: A program examining journalism’s role in shaping democracy — past and present.
There is No Single American Story: Clint Smith — July 22, 2026: A major keynote address from acclaimed author and historian Clint Smith, exploring how history is remembered and interpreted.
THEN: In the section of the Freedom Train on colonial rights, from left, Bill Hettick, Mary Moyle and Evonne Hanson view documents March 30, 1948, when the train stopped in Walla Walla. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, courtesy Museum of History & Industry)
