3/1/08

Your church's bell is not just another piece of ordinary equipment to be casually discarded when it no longer has any obvious use, or to be left behind because somebody can't be bothered to raise enough funds to move it. The church members who donated the funds to buy that bell almost a century ago certainly weren't thinking that way, otherwise they would have bought a cheap cast steel bell from Sears, Roebuck & Co. Instead, they special-ordered a custom-made cast bronze bell, spending five to ten times as much money for it. (Though I must say it's very strange that the custom inscription only says "Lutheran" - I would have expected it to have the full name of the church.) Probably their view was that the bell would become the voice of their church to their community, calling people to worship and to prayer.

Once upon a time, all church bells were rung by hand. With the coming of electricity, and the decline of close-knit communities, many churches (especially Catholic) electrified their bells - push a button or set a clock and get a churchy noise coming out of the tower at the right time. But for some churches, especially the Evangelical Lutheran and others with a Germanic background, ringing the church bell was not just a signal, but a service to God. In the St.Louis area, there are several old Lutheran congregations which took their bell with them when they moved to the suburbs, rehung it in the new building, and still ring it by hand for every church service.

With your church's bell approaching the centenary of its casting (and possibly your church approaching the centenary of its founding), the relocation of this historic bell for continued service could provide some great opportunities for celebration. The bell itself is almost certainly just as good as when it was fresh from the foundry. The fittings may need some maintenance work, but I can advise on that. If you have more specific questions, just ask.

Yours in Christ's service,

Carl Scott Zimmerman, Campanologist

3/28/08

Thanks for making the photos available, Marvin. For the most part, they show typical Henry Stuckstede bell of that period - well made except for sloppy lettering. But there is one real oddity - in the company name, the letter "L" is actually an upside-down "7" in all three places! I've not seen that particular typo before on HSBFCo bells.

Also as I mentioned before, it's unusual that the custom inscription is simply "LUTHERAN" without the name of the church.

Although none of the photos shows the whole bell, each of them shows excellent detail of some part. Most appears to be in good order. However, the arm of the tolling hammer is bent, undoubtedly because once upon a time someone was foolish enough to pull the tolling rope while the bell was swinging. That will be fairly east to fix, once you find a blacksmith (may be that's not so easy :-).