Children all over America say it in school every day.

It kicks off government meetings.

But did you know the Pledge of Allegiance was born in a small village in Western New York?

Welcome to the Village of Mount Morris, the birthplace of Francis Bellamy, creator of the Pledge of Allegiance.

A village of just over 4,000 people.

Mount Morris can only be described as small but mighty.

Despite its size, the village is home to a tight-knit community that values its roots.

You may be wondering, how did this small town man get to write the pledge used across the nation?

Livingston County historian Holly Watson shared a little more about the pledge's origin.

So the pledge was originally written in 1892 as kind of a result of a new patriotic campaign by the Youth's Companion Magazine.

Francis Bellamy, the man of the day, was an editor at that magazine and he was apparently tasked by his boss to create the a salute to the flag.

However, there's more than one history buff in Mount Morris.

Yale student Ellie Lonsberry lives in Bellamy's childhood home.

And history has remained an important part of her life.

This town is filled with old houses.

It's filled with houses coming from this time period and in any one of them you can think of the history that was here.

But when you're told this is a place where history happened, you look for it.

School superintendent Greg Bump is proud to hear the pledge every morning, noting the pledge's impact on students, especially those connected to service.

You know, Mount Morris is a special community and you know, as when we walked by, you know, our veterans, you know display that we had in the hallway and you can see just the vast number of people from Mount Morris that served our nation and, you know, from the Civil War on, that there are so many connections.

I do think that this community, you know, understands service and country and that the flag has a special meaning, you know, not only in the communities, but in, you know, our family's households.

Bump's son Charlie just finished the sixth grade at Mount Morris Central School.

When asked how reciting the pledge each morning impacts him, Charlie replied.

It makes me feel like we're honoring all the people in the military because they're fighting for our country.

It's something that means a lot more to me.

Established in the village, but debated in some states, there is some controversy around whether or not Bellamy actually wrote The Pledge of Allegiance.

A discovery found in a 2022 newspapers.com article cast doubt on the true author of The Pledge.

Years before Bellamy claimed its creation, a student in Kansas published a near identical version of the pledge for a flag raising ceremony.

What supposedly happened at the time, there was a school boy in Kansas who very eerily and ridiculously is named Frank E. Bellamy.

No relation.

But this boy supposedly claimed to have sent the pledge in two years earlier to the Youth's Companion, this magazine where the pledge originally was published in September of 1892.

And he said two years before there had been this patriotic writing competition, he had submitted something and never heard back about it.

And then two years later saw this pledge that he claimed were his words published by the magazine that didn't credit him.

So Kansas, ever since 1892, this state of Kansas and everywhere in it has claimed the schoolboy Frank Bellamy as the author of the pledge and they've stood by that claim ever since.

The only difference instead of indivisible, Frank E. Bellamy used the word inseparable.

Putting eerie similarities and questions about who did it first aside, Bellamy and the Pledge make up a pivotal fraction of Mount Morris's identity.

Even today when the pledge was first written, Bellamy's draft could have been used for any country read as follows.

I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

In June, the village hosts a weekend celebration for the man that puts them on the map.

Greg Bump used Francis Bellamy's annual Glory Day celebration as a unique way for the community to stay true to its beginnings and honor the present.

Not only is Flag Day celebrated here at school, but there's a whole event in the community and now they call it Francis Bellamy's Glory Days.

And it has the parade on Main Street.

It has, you know, the fireworks at the end of the day.

It's something that's really special and it's something that brings our community together.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, it's important to remember that even the smallest of villages can hold big history.

In Mount Morris for WPBS Weekly, I'm Emily Mike.