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Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Ind. Courts - Old bell uncovered in Green County Courthouse
The Greene County Daily World reports today, via a story by Nick Schneider. Some quotes:
A large historic bronze bell that has been tucked silently away in the rafters above the attic of the Greene County Courthouse since the mid-1950s may soon have a more public resting place as part of the current renovation project.The 120-year-old bell is mammoth in size - weighing an estimated 2,000 pounds and measures approximately 48 inches tall and more than 42 inches around, according to Greene County Building Corporation project manager Jim Corey.
Corey said after the bell was noticed during a pre-construction inspection of the building he started to comb through the “fine print” contained in the county's master contract with general contractor Weddle Brothers Construction Company, of Bloomington, to see if there was a provision to move the old bell that was first purchased by the county in 1886.
“The contract says they (Weddle Brothers) will take that old bell out of the bell tower and put it where we (the building corporation and the county commissioners) say,” Corey said Monday afternoon. “It's one of the most beautiful old bells that I've ever seen. It's just a beautiful bell.”
Corey added, “I've told the contractor, ‘let's figure out some way we can get this thing out of here. I want to get this (bell) down so the people of Greene County can have it'. We want that bell out of there so people can see it.”
He then asked the project engineers - Strand Construction Company - to design a simple structure to display the old bell on the ground - possibly located in the northeast corner of the courthouse square.
“I've seen several other communities do this,” he said. “It's a good idea. I'm excited about it because this is just a neat old thing and needs to be preserved and seen by the public. We'll build some kind of way to display it.” * * *
Corey said he learned after viewing the bell that it was purchased from the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland during the fourth courthouse construction project in Greene County.
He wanted to contact the foundry company to see how much the bell weighed to determine what kind of engineering would have to go into moving it.
Through an computer search, Corey found that the foundry still exists and is now the only large Western-style bell maker in the United States - one of about seven in the world.
The foundry also had a computer database that went back prior to 1886 and confirmed the bell that weighs a ton was sold to Greene County officials 120 years ago.
The bell foundry, founded in 1856 by Henry McShane, who had emigrated from Dundalk, Ireland, in 1847, also offers a service that re-conditions and cleans the old bells. Corey asked for a quote just to see what it might cost to clean-up the historic bell - which has taken on a greenish-colored cast over the years.
Over the years, the county has actually used four different courthouse buildings.
The first courthouse was in built in 1824 at Burlington, a small village on the east bank of the west fork of the White River. Burlington was about three miles north of present-day Bloomfield. The courthouse was a 20 foot by 20 foot, two-room log hewn structure.
The second courthouse, completed in 1825, was located on the northeast side of the intersection of Main and Washington Streets in Bloomfield. The cabin-styled courthouse was changed by the addition of a window in 1833 and repair of the underpinning the following year because hogs were resting underneath the building and disturbing court proceedings.
A third courthouse building was finished in 1838 and, it too, became too small and officials were soon planning for the building a new structure to house the county offices.
In 1885, construction on another county courthouse was started. The commissioners hired prominent architect G.W. (George) Bunting to do the work.
It was Bunting who designed the building that originally housed the old bell. The bell today still is etched with his name along with the names of county commissioners Moses Crockett, Robert McKee and Jno Miller, Jr. as well as county auditor John L. Harrel.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 16, 2006 04:11 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts