Bells are meant to be heard, which is hard to do if it’s locked away in a storage locker.
When the big brass bell inscribed with “Meneely Bell Foundry, Troy, New York — 1899” was removed from beneath the span of the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, it was held safely in storage.
Now that the storage locker is being cleaned out, Halifax Harbour Bridges has decided it is time to find out just where this bell came from.
The bell was placed as a fixture on the bridge in 1955, but where it was for the 56 years prior remains a mystery.
“We just think the 1899 date is really curious,” Steven Proctor, communications manager at Halifax Harbour Bridges said on the Todd Veinotte Show.
Proctor said there is no documentation regarding where the bridge got the bell from, but similar bells have been used in churches around the area.
The Meneely Foundry also made bells for ships, factories, and businesses.
One of the biggest questions is whether or not the bell was part of the Halifax Explosion.
When two munition ships collided in the harbour narrows in 1917, it resulted in a fire and blast that devastated Halifax and Dartmouth. Around 2,000 people were killed and entire neighbourhoods were erased. Four churches were lost along with most of their records.
Could this bell have rung at one of the churches? It’s possible.
The bell is now on display in the front foyer of the bridge office to attract the public and see if anyone knows of the missing link that may piece together the bell’s history.
“It’s in a secure facility, but people can buzz the door and come in and look at the bell,” Proctor said. “It’s only been in storage for six years, but it’s been forgotten since the mid-50s.”
Anyone with any information, photographs or stories that may help to piece together the bell’s past can contact bridges@hdbc.ns.ca.