Did You Know?
Working next to the Chemung County Courthouse, there is a particular sound I hear regularly all day:
Curious about the origins of what must be a very old bell, I paid a visit to Chemung County Historian J. Arthur "Archie" Kieffer at the Chemung Valley History Museum.
This is quite a guy, by the way. He's a WWII veteran who started working for Buildings and Grounds back in 1966, has written four books about Chemung County, has been involved in the community throughout the years in ways far too numerous to mention, and at age 90 can still be found in the museum preserving and sharing its history.
He has his own day, folks. March 27th, his birthday, was recently proclaimed J. Arthur Kieffer Day in Chemung County.
Here's your Top Five Things to Know About The Courthouse Bell:
1. It's the old Elmira First Presbyterian Church bell. It was subscribed for by the Presbyterians in 1857, and cast by Jones and Hitchcock of Troy, NY. The whole thing was cast, tuned (in the key of G), delivered, hung and paid for within four months.
4. The courthouse, built in the 1860's, had never had a bell before this one. The bell was fitted to a new yoke (what holds it up) and then hung in the tower on July 4, 1976, as part of the local Bicentennial Celebration.
The bell had been in storage; the Bicentennial Commission, who had made securing a bell for the tower their top priority, expressed interest in it when the Presbyterian church's tower was to be torn down.
The bell had been "reconsecrated to freedom" by Rev. Lloyd Peterson, and was rung at noon on July 4th by seven descendants of the 19th century Elmirans who helped purchase it (contributors included William and John Arnot).
In short, a bell made it into the belfry a century late. But made it, it did.
5. The bell doesn't actually belong to the county. It's on permanent loan from the church. The original agreement states that the bell is to remain in the custody of the county until return is requested, or the county wants to return it.
In listening to Archie speak about bells in general, I think there's a lot that probably gets overlooked in the day to day of hearing them. As he put it, "bells are the voices of the past," and a bell is "the conveyor of sound to the greatest distance; it's first to convey the sound of our sorrows and it conveys our joys, also."
Back in the day, people used to have jobs as bell ringers, and bells were sounded for just all sorts of things (some of which are still prevalent reasons for ringing them today): the start and end of religious services, when a soul departed from a body, start of a new year, summoning court, ringing a curfew, calling meetings to order, police and fire emergencies, and, my personal favorite, for tax dealings.
Someday, I'd like to get up in the tower and see this piece o' history up close. Hopefully the climb's not Jimmy-Stewart-"Vertigo" style, though.
Curious about the origins of what must be a very old bell, I paid a visit to Chemung County Historian J. Arthur "Archie" Kieffer at the Chemung Valley History Museum.
This is quite a guy, by the way. He's a WWII veteran who started working for Buildings and Grounds back in 1966, has written four books about Chemung County, has been involved in the community throughout the years in ways far too numerous to mention, and at age 90 can still be found in the museum preserving and sharing its history.
He has his own day, folks. March 27th, his birthday, was recently proclaimed J. Arthur Kieffer Day in Chemung County.
So, the bell in question? It isn't actually ringing. Go look sometime; it's not movin' when you hear it "toll." From what I understand, the sound is computerized now, and songs are programmed in.
But the bell does, indeed, maintain a place of honor up there, in a belfry that was apparently long, long overdue for one.
Here's your Top Five Things to Know About The Courthouse Bell:
1. It's the old Elmira First Presbyterian Church bell. It was subscribed for by the Presbyterians in 1857, and cast by Jones and Hitchcock of Troy, NY. The whole thing was cast, tuned (in the key of G), delivered, hung and paid for within four months.
Speedy.
2. The original cost of the bell was $847.53. That included freight charges, as the bell traveled by canal to Canandaigua, where the Elmira Railroad picked it up.
Sort of makes you want to sing "15 Miles on the Erie Canal," doesn't it?
3. The bell weighs in at 2,200 pounds, including the clapper (which Archie describes to a bell novice like me as the "bing bing bing").
4. The courthouse, built in the 1860's, had never had a bell before this one. The bell was fitted to a new yoke (what holds it up) and then hung in the tower on July 4, 1976, as part of the local Bicentennial Celebration.
The bell had been in storage; the Bicentennial Commission, who had made securing a bell for the tower their top priority, expressed interest in it when the Presbyterian church's tower was to be torn down.
The bell had been "reconsecrated to freedom" by Rev. Lloyd Peterson, and was rung at noon on July 4th by seven descendants of the 19th century Elmirans who helped purchase it (contributors included William and John Arnot).
In short, a bell made it into the belfry a century late. But made it, it did.
5. The bell doesn't actually belong to the county. It's on permanent loan from the church. The original agreement states that the bell is to remain in the custody of the county until return is requested, or the county wants to return it.
In listening to Archie speak about bells in general, I think there's a lot that probably gets overlooked in the day to day of hearing them. As he put it, "bells are the voices of the past," and a bell is "the conveyor of sound to the greatest distance; it's first to convey the sound of our sorrows and it conveys our joys, also."
Back in the day, people used to have jobs as bell ringers, and bells were sounded for just all sorts of things (some of which are still prevalent reasons for ringing them today): the start and end of religious services, when a soul departed from a body, start of a new year, summoning court, ringing a curfew, calling meetings to order, police and fire emergencies, and, my personal favorite, for tax dealings.
Someday, I'd like to get up in the tower and see this piece o' history up close. Hopefully the climb's not Jimmy-Stewart-"Vertigo" style, though.
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