Planning for next year’s Quarter-Millennial anniversary of American independence is way behind where planning was at this stage for our nation’s glorious Bicentennial in 1976. This is the unfortunate result of our having just lived through peak wokeness, an era that wanted nothing to do with celebrating our nation’s founding. The good news is that things have turned dramatically with the election of President Trump, who quickly formed a task force — Task Force 250 — to help plan “a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026.”
But what would really help make the Quarter-Millennial a grand celebration — one stretching from coast to coast and hitting towns all across America — is the revival of the steam-powered American Freedom Train that was a centerpiece of the patriotic Bicentennial celebration. It’s not too late to get that train back on the tracks for 2026.
The Quarter-Millennial needs to be more than just an event held on July 4 — and more than just an event held in Washington, D.C., or any other single place. It should be a year-long national celebration. Indeed, the Bicentennial festivities lasted more than a year. They began in April 1975, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of shots ringing out at Lexington and Concord. The opening event was the launching of the American Freedom Train on April 1.
Painted red, white, and blue, the American Freedom Train was a symbol both of America and of America’s history as a nation of pioneers and settlers. Portland, Oregon donated a steam locomotive, evoking America’s exploration of the West, and it was refurbished for the occasion. “Doubtless the most photographed locomotive in the world,” per the American Freedom Train website, it pulled train cars rich in American historical artifacts across all 48 contiguous states from April 1, 1975 to December 31, 1976, travelling 25,833 miles — slightly more than the circumference of the Earth — in the process.
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 carried via moving walkways through the exhibit cars, at a rate of 1,800 people per hour over each 14-hour display day, with individual audio devices providing narrations of the exhibits for each visitor.
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. Featuring 20 pairs of windows, the train would slow down as it went through towns, letting Americans peer in to see some of the captivating 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. Buzz Aldrin and Mickey Mouse boarded in Anaheim, where the queue to board encircled the entire “Big A” (Angels Stadium). 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.
The American Freedom Train was the brainchild of Ross Rowland, a train buff who came from a three-generation railroad family. His idea was made possible when he convinced Donald Kendall, a World War II veteran who was then the chairman of the board for PepsiCo, that the train merited the company’s financial backing. 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.
Three days after the American Freedom Train made the final stop of its Bicentennial tour, in Miami at the very end of 1976, President Ford wrote Rowland a letter of thanks, noting, “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.”
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), described the American Freedom Train as “one of the most significant — certainly the most visible and national in scope—of the many projects planned to honor America during 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. The blueprint is there from last time, and Rowland is still alive — and reportedly still quite sharp — to provide a fount of valuable insights. (Kendall died four years ago, at the age of 99.) If the Empire State Building could get built in less than 14 months, the American Freedom Train should be able to hit the tracks in less time than that — and it would help demonstrate that Americans can still do things quickly.
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 latter would be a fixed tribute to America’s finest, while the former would be a historically rich symbol of America on the move, drawing in millions of Americans from across the nation. All aboard!
Jesus Christ is King
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