Peoples Bell Tower

By Chuck Kamilewicz

How many have seen the bell at Peoples United Methodist Church? Not many, up to this point. Now you can say that you have seen it. During the painting of the bell tower by contractors, they were kind enough to let me borrow fall protection and open the bell tower to view and take pictures of the bell.

The reason for the viewing was two-fold. One was to check the condition of the bell and its components and the other was to gather historical information about the bell. Overall, the bell is in good condition and some startling information was gained about the bell.

On September 11, 2006, I was hoisted up in a mobile vertical lift to the bell tower. I removed a section of louvers on the rear side and entered. A former Trustee member, Randy Pike, had been in the bell tower about 15 years ago and did a wonderful maintenance job on it. He carried out many pails of bird droppings, repacked the bushings with 50 year packing and added hardware clothe to the inside of the louvers to prevent the birds from entering. The fruits of his labor continue to serve us even today.

I took a number of photos of the bell and its components, as well as the tower. Information gathered from the bell will be passed on to Church Historian Art Tordoff and Kevin Malcom. Maybe you can read the raised information on the bell from the pictures. If you can, you will see that it was cast in 1884, much later than originally thought. It was also made by the Blake Company, formally the Hooper Bell Company.