Meneely bell foundries

The Meneely Bell Foundry was a bell foundry established in 1826 in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York, by Andrew Meneely. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, while a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, opened a second foundry across the river with George H. Kimberly in Troy, New York in 1870. Initially named the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, this second foundry was reorganized in 1880 as the Clinton H. Meneely Company, then again as the Meneely Bell Company. Together, the two foundries produced about 65,000 bells before they closed in 1952.

A Meneely bell at the Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts

Bell locations

Selected Meneely Bells

San Jose State University

Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

Plainville, Massachusetts, USA

Saint Anthony's Church, Prague, Czech Republic

Below is a sample of locations where Meneely Bell Foundry bells can be found:

• First Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama. Plaque inscribed: “IN 1869 JAMES HAMILTON DONATED THIS CHURCH BELL TO THE ENON BAPTIST CHURCH WHERE HE WAS A MEMBER UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1884. THE BELL WAS MANUFACTURED IN 1869 (AND LATER REPAIRED IN 1887) IN WEST TROY, NEW YORK BY MENEELY & COMPANY. IT WAS USED FROM 1869 TO 1963 IN BOTH DOWNTOWN CHURCHES (BELL TOWER AND GOTHIC) THAT WERE LOCATED AT THE CORNER OF CLINTON AND GALLATIN STREETS IN HUNTSVILLE. THE BELL WAS MOVED (BUT NO LONGER USED) IN 1963 TO ITS PRESENT LOCATION AT THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH ON GOVERNORS DRIVE. JAMES HAMILTON WAS A DEDICATED CHRISTIAN AND ACTIVE IN ALL AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH. HE WAS ORDAINED A DEACON IN 1869 AND TEN YEARS LATER WAS CHOSEN TO BE A TRUSTEE OF THE CHURCH. UNDOUBTEDLY, JAMES HAMILTON'S MOST SIGNIFICANT AND LONG LASTING CONTRIBUTION TO ENON BAPTIST WAS THIS CHURCH BELL. HE AND HIS WIFE, CARRIE, BOTH DIED IN 1884.”
• Phi Sigma Kappa, Gamma Tetarton Chapter (Troy, NY). The engraving on the bell in the chapter house (former St. Francis DeSales Church) reads: "This bell is dedicated to St. Francis Church by Rev. William A. Drum, pastor in memory of his deceased mother, Easter Sunday, April 9, 1882".
• First Presbyterian Church of Adrian-Adrian, Michigan. Bell cast 1846 and arrived on December 31. Weighing 1601 pounds, it was hoisted into positioned into place and rang in the New Year 1847.
• St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church Set of 10 bells cast in West Troy in 1901. Three bells added in 1966. All bells refurbished in 2008 by Christop Paccard Bellfoundries, Johns Island, South Carolina.
• St. Paul Lutheran Church, Pontiac, Illinois. Purchased in the late 1860's.
• Saint Michael's Church (Rochester, New York) has two bells, cast in 1847, the larger bell weighing 1,015 pounds, the small bell weighing 525 pounds.
• Thompson Hall, University of New Hampshire - Durham, New Hampshire
• Columbia High School (New Jersey) - large bell chimes the hour
• Christ Episcopal Church, Reading, Pennsylvania. Set of 10 bells cast in West Troy in 1874.
• Bulkley Memorial Carillon in Danbury, Connecticut
• St. Mary Catholic Church, Bethel, Connecticut (this bell was in the original church, located on Greenwood Ave. in Bethel but was taken out of the steeple and placed on display behind the "new" church on Dodgingtown Road)
• Central United Methodist Church in Endicott, New York
• First United Methodist Church in Crockett, Texas. Bell was cast in 1859 and moved to current church in 1901. Bell is rung each Sunday.
• Friendship Fire Company #1, 29 Delaware Street, Woodbury, NJ. Cast in 1875 for the Woodbury Fire Association.
• Immanuel Lutheran Church in Madison, Nebraska
• First Presbyterian Church of Avon, New York. Church built in 1812, 33", 700 pound Meneely Bell dated 1848.
• Jamesville Community Museum, former Episcopal church built in 1878 in Jamesville, New York
• Joseph Dill Baker Memorial Carillon in Baker Park, in Frederick, Maryland
• King Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio
• Lovely Lane Chapel at Epworth By The Sea on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Chapel built in 1880 and the bell was cast in 1881.
• Faith Chapel on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Chapel built in 1904 and the bell was cast in 1901.
• Lupton Hall Carillon at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia
• Mt. Zion Baptist Church, formerly Deutsche Congregationale Zion Kirche (German Congregational Zion Church) in Portland, Oregon
• Newton Presbyterian Church in Newton, New Jersey
• Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack, New York
• Rock Island Arsenal Clock Tower in Rock Island, Illinois has a 3,538 lb bell stamped “1867 Meneelys’ West Troy, N.Y.”
• Saint Andrew's Catholic Church in Norwood, New York has a 3,100 lb bell of ingot copper and East India tin in a 70-foot (21 m) tower.
• Saint Anthony's Church in Albany, New York
• Saint Anthony's Church (Svateho Antonina) in Strossmayerovo Namesti, Prague, Czech Republic
• Saint Joseph Parish (Mountain View, California). The bell striker was replaced in 2018, with the A-frames scheduled for replacement in 2024.
• Saint Peter Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania
• St. Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey
• Saint Peter's Catholic Church, Rutland, Vermont
• San Jose State University in San Jose, California "Cast to commemorate the California State Normal School in 1881, this 3,000-pound bell was rung at 8 a.m each morning until the earthquake that stilled its voice in 1903. In 1910, the bell was re-installed in the main building of the newly constructed Tower Hall, where it was rung on special occasions. In the early 1960s, seismic concerns led to its retirement and relocation at ground level."
• Wesley Knox United Church. Woodville, Nova Scotia.
• Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church, Sherman, Texas
• Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island
• University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa dedicated in 1926
• Washington Memorial Chapel has a carillon in the National Patriots Bell Tower at Valley Forge National Historical Park
• Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Eastern State Hospital Medical Library, Building No. 3, Williamsburg, Virginia is the location of a Meneely Bell carrying the manufacturer's date of 1886. It was originally utilized to signify curfews and special events at the nation's oldest psychiatric hospital, established in 1773.
• Mattawamkeag Church of God in Mattawamkeag, Maine
• Carlisle Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, New York
• Roddick Gates, McGill University, Montreal
• Church of the Nativity, Menlo Park, California
• Cathedral Church of St. Mark, Salt Lake City, Utah St. Mark's Cathedral
• St Lawrence Hall, Toronto, Ontario. (This bell, cast in 1849, is unused and virtually inaccessible in the cupola of St Lawrence Hall.)
• Laingsburg United Methodist Church, Laingsburg, Michigan (1881 bell)
• Lacon Congregational Church, Lacon, Illinois (bell cast in 1890)
• Wilder Center, Wilder, Vermont
• Saugerties Lighthouse, Saugerties, New York
• Church of the Ascension, Rockville Centre, New York. (1873 bell) Cast for Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, New York. Sold back to Meneely bell foundry and resold in 1888 to Church of the Ascension.
• Used as the Boys Camp bell at Camp Mini-Yo-We in Huntsville, Ontario. Originally Cast for Mountainside Gospel Chapel in Mountainside, New Jersey and later donated to Camp Mini-Yo-We upon amalgamation with Liquid Church.
• West Point Cadet Chapel, West Point, NY.

Below is a sample of locations where bells from the second Meneely bell foundry can be seen and heard:

• Church of the Sacred Heart, Waseca, Minnesota (Maneely & Kimberly, Founders, Troy, NY 1872)
• Davis County Courthouse (Maneely & Kimberly Bell Co., 1879) in Bloomfield, Iowa
• The Phelps School's "Victory Bell" in Malvern, Pennsylvania
• A Meneely & Kimberly bell remains in front of the Cortland Elementary School in Cortland, Ohio. The school was once named Cortland Union School as cast on the bell 1876.
• The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The twelve original bells were cast by the Meneely Bell Company in the early 1930s, and supplemented by two bells from Petit & Fritsen, Belgium in 1998.
• Sainte-Marthe-De-Vaudreuil Catholic Church, Quebec, Canada.
• St. Andrew's United Church in Markham, Ontario
• Bell in the name of Miss Elsie Priest, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.
• A Meneely & Kimberly bell is in daily service in the Parish Church of San Andres Xecul, Totonicapan, Guatemala.
• St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York.
• Soldiers Chapel - Schofield Barracks; Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. Church steeple built 1913. Bell dated 1911.
• Assumption Church - Staten Island, New York. Assumption - St. Paul Parish. Bells dedicated August 6, 1922.
• St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Ogden, Kansas. Bell dated 1910
• Hume Memorial Church (A.F.C.C) Congregation. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra India. Bell is dated 1914. This Bell is still functioning and can be heard on every Sunday at 8.30 am
• First Baptist Church of Clinton, LA. Bell dated 1859.
• First Congregational United Church of Christ, Billings, Montana. Bell dated 1889.
• Wells College, Main Building (Aurora, NY) Nine bells cast in 1922.
• City of Poway Veterans Park, Poway California, The Liberty Bell was cast in 1874 and was installed at the Park in 2010.
• Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, MA, Cast by Clinton H. Meneely dated 1890.

Columbian Liberty Bell

The Columbian Liberty Bell was cast by Clinton H. Meneely's foundry for display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The bell disappeared while on tour in Europe.

Saint Anthony’s Church Bell, Prague, Czech Republic

The Meneely bell that hangs in St Anthony's Church in Prague was purchased by the Mid-European Union in October 1918 to commemorate the independence of Czechoslovakia after World War I and donated to the group's president, Thomas Masaryk, who became the head of the country's provisional government and, in 1920, the Czechoslovak president. The bell cost $2,000 and weighed 2,542 pounds (1,155 kg).

See also

• Benjamin Hanks (1755-1824), goldsmith and instrument maker
• Campanology: Carillons (a concise chapter in the general article Campanology)
• Bell tower

External links

• Meneely Bell Online Museum
• The Meneely Foundry in West Troy, Troy United Newsletter, December 1999