Part of a seven-part series exploring what 100+ independently written letters from America’s business community reveal about the country and its people at 250. Read more in the series.
Americans have marked the country’s 250th birthday in many ways this year: community events, family gatherings, travel, volunteering. But among the half who wanted to recognize the milestone through some civic or educational activity, a June 2026 Gallup survey found the most popular choice (55%) was learning more about American history.
The Birthday Letters to America suggest where to start. We asked business organizations to reflect on the 250th, and many found inspiration in their own local history, tied to the country's founding. A signer of the Declaration almost nobody can name. A city that briefly held the entire federal government. A port town that resisted the Stamp Act years before Boston did. A state admitted to the Union in the middle of a war.
Each writer picked a different piece of the past, and each one discovered something essential to the present. These letters describe how a community's history informs what it believes about itself, and what it still thinks is worth doing.
An entrepreneur before he was a Founder
Most people who can name a signer of the Declaration of Independence stop at two or three. Button Gwinnett isn't usually one of the names mentioned. Nick Masino, president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber, takes this opportunity to share the story of one of their own.
"When [Button] Gwinnett signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, there was no guarantee of success. The colonies were challenging the most powerful empire in the world, and failure could have cost him everything. Yet he chose to act anyway. That willingness to move forward amid uncertainty remains just as relevant today."
Before Gwinnett was a name on a founding document, he was an English immigrant who had already tried and failed at business more than once. Masino treats the signature itself as an entrepreneurial act: a bet made without a guarantee, by someone who understood the risks of a new venture.
"Every day, entrepreneurs launch businesses without knowing the outcome. Employers invest in new markets and emerging technologies. Community leaders take on challenges without the benefit of guarantees. Progress has always depended on individuals willing to step forward before the path ahead is fully visible."
That's the version of courage Gwinnett County chose to inherit.
A capital for a day, a lesson for 250 years
Lancaster, Pennsylvania served as the capital of the United States for a single day in 1777, while Congress was on the run from the British. The 250 years that followed are what Heather Valudes, president and CEO of the Lancaster Chamber, focuses most of her letter on.
Lancaster County was part of the Underground Railroad. It was home to Thaddeus Stevens, the abolitionist congressman, and Lydia Hamilton Smith, the formerly enslaved woman who was his partner and confidante for decades. A center bearing both their names recently opened in the county.
"The legacies of leaders such as Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith show us that meaningful progress often requires courage, conviction, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. … History is not something we simply preserve; it is something we learn from. The questions that shaped their work around leadership, participation, opportunity, and belonging remain just as relevant today."
Valudes connects that directly to what she's asking of her own community now.
"Strong communities are built on trust. They are at their best when people stay informed, engage in respectful dialogue, participate in civic life, and work together to solve challenges. Civic leadership is not reserved for elected officials."
A port that decided early
Wilmington, North Carolina is older than the country. Natalie English, president and CEO of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, thinks that early start says something about how the city still operates.
"Wilmington's chapter began before the nation itself. Founded in 1739 on the banks of the Cape Fear River, our city grew as a colonial port where merchants, shipbuilders, and tradesmen came to build something of their own. … In 1765, Wilmington's own citizens stood against unjust taxation, years before the Boston Tea Party. And in April 1776, North Carolina became the first colony to call for American independence. That instinct, to lead rather than wait, still defines this region."
English spends the back half of her letter on bridges, infrastructure, and workforce — the unglamorous business of a chamber of commerce — and ties it back to the same instinct.
"The founders of this nation, and the founders of this city, invested in things they would never see finished. We owe the next 250 years the same."
A state that answered when asked
Nevada entered the Union on October 31, 1864, in the middle of the Civil War. Ronni Hannaman, executive director of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, starts her letter there.
"Carson City and Nevada were not present at your birth. We were not among the original thirteen colonies, nor did our history begin on the battlefields of the American Revolution. Our chapter in your story began nearly a century later, during another defining moment — when the Union itself was in danger. When your 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, needed the loyalty and resources of the West during the Civil War, Nevada answered."
Carson City had already spent over a decade as a frontier trading post before that, and it kept building afterward: a U.S. Mint, a railroad, a role as territorial capital. Hannaman frames all of it as one continuous decision the community keeps remaking, to show up when something is asked of it.
"We honor those who came before us not simply by telling their stories, but by continuing their commitment to service, self-government and community."
The state born from a war
West Virginia is the only state that came into existence because of the Civil War, breaking away from Virginia rather than joining the Confederacy. Mara Boggs, president and CEO of the Charleston Area Alliance & Chamber of Commerce, writes from inside that origin story.
"In West Virginia, you are either a Veteran or related to a Veteran. … The Mountain State was formed during the Civil War, with the hope of a brighter, more prosperous future for all Americans, no matter their background. We are the only state formed by seceding, showing our courage, resilience, and audacity that is as great as the mountains, wild rivers, and rugged valleys that shape us. It is this fiery, courageous beginning that has guided us during our 163 years of statehood."
Boggs makes the economic case in the same breath as the moral one.
"We've mined the coal that forged the steel that built the guns and ships that turned the United States of America into the world's superpower. That would not have been possible without the people of West Virginia."
What we choose to carry forward
A community doesn't just have a history. It embraces the part still worth learning from, and lets that guide what comes next.
A county named for a failed businessman who happened to be brave. A city that held the government for a moment and taught abolition for a century. A port that organized against a tax in 1765 and still argues about bridges. A state that answered a call once and keeps answering. A state born in a war that still measures itself by service.
None of this is preserved behind glass. These writers treat the past as something still inspiring and challenging them today. Many Americans say they want to spend this year learning more about where the country came from. These letters are a good place to start.
