From The Hallowell Champion:
Hallowell's rare copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on view July 4th from 10am- pm at City Hall. Connect a festive day of fun and fireworks to the shot heard ‘round the world!
In the year of our country's bicentennial, 1976, Hallowell City Historian and beloved teacher, Sam Webber, found one of the only remaining early prints of the Declaration of Independence hanging in an office at the Hubbard Free Library. How long it had graced that wall, no one is quite sure but thank goodness it was because it remained protected from sunlight,wrinkles and greasy fingers all those years.
According to Hallowell Initiatives President, Sandy Stubbs, "Everyone should get a chance to see this beautiful broadside, especially children, since they learn about our country's birth, but rarely get to see any physical piece of it."
Hallowell's copy was later confirmed to be a rare early print–a national treasure and the rightful property of the City of Hallowell. It is one of only 11 known copies of the approximately 200 printed by Ezekiel Russell, a Salem, Massachusetts, printer, about July 20, 1776.