A century-old bell is ringing again at Maple Grove Elementary School in Dittmer.
The school held an assembly for its fourth and fifth-grade students on Sept. 25 to celebrate the return of the 109-year-old bell whose whereabouts were largely unknown for more than 80 years.
Fifth graders Allie Bucholz and Nixson Kellett shared the history of the school bell at the assembly before Principal Aubrey Bauer gave it a ring.
In 1915, a bell tower was constructed on top of the small Maple Grove Elementary school building, and the bell, made of thick cast steel and standing 24 inches tall and 30 inches round, was installed.
According to local history buff and 1972 Northwest High School graduate Mark Nelson, the bell would alert students from as far as 3 miles away that class was in session or recess was over.
The old Maple Grove school building was sold decades ago, which could have been the end of the bell.
It was later recovered, though, and after spending years and years at former staff members’ homes, Nelson, along with classmates Mark McGriff and Jesse Clayton, district Director of Facilities Kasey Schaffer and others, worked over the past several months to clean up the bell and have it transported to the elementary school.
“The bell is coming back home,” Bucholz read from a piece of paper at the assembly. “We wanted to celebrate this special piece of MGE history. The bell will stay at Maple Grove Elementary as a reminder of this rich history for future generations.”
Bauer said the bell will stay in the school’s vestibule for students, families and visitors to see when they check in at the front office. A printout of the bell’s story will be included “so everyone understands the significance of it,” she said.
“I think it’s so neat to have that piece of history here,” Bauer said. “We still have several families who have been here for years and years, so I hope that they’re all able to connect with that (and) see it as a piece of their history.”
Bell serves as lawn ornament
James “Jim” Buxton, a retired Northwest R-1 educator, said the bell had sat for many years in his driveway after the old Maple Grove Elementary building was sold and a new school was built in 1941.
Buxton’s mother, Carol, who was both the Maple Grove and Cedar Hill School principal at the time the new school was built, took the bell home after it was relinquished to the scrap heap. Cedar Hill School was later absorbed into the newly formed Northwest R-1 School District.
Carol died in 2004, Buxton said, and he was bequeathed the hefty bell.
Many ideas were floated around as to what to do with it, including constructing a gazebo.
“I thought about giving it to the local historical society, but I wanted it to stay within the school district,” he said.
A few members of Northwest High’s Class of 1972 caught wind of the bell’s existence, and a committee was formed to ensure the bell’s future would live on at Maple Grove Elementary. Nelson called Schaffer to get the ball rolling, and the bell was transferred to the district’s maintenance shop.
With some work, Schaefer said, the bell was restored, and a new pulley rope was added. Gateway Metalworks in House Springs crafted and donated a steel frame for the bell to sit on for free, he said.
Bell of the ball
According to Nelson, the #22 cast steel alloy bell was manufactured by the C.S. Bell Co. in Hillsboro, Ohio, which was founded in 1858 by Charles Singleton Bell. The company now operates in Tiffin and specializes in manufacturing mills and recycling equipment.
Nelson wrote in a letter to the district that a Maple Grove teacher, Herman Roglin, famously tolled the bell for 30 minutes straight to “announce and celebrate the glad tidings of peace found by the ending of the First World War.”
As the community continued to grow in the 1920s and 1930s, the need for a larger public school building became evident, Nelson said.
He said the federal Works Progress Administration was called upon to help design and build a new school in 1941.
Many additions have been made to the school since then, and the school is almost unrecognizable since the days when his mother was a principal there, Buxton said.
“The new building had not one, but two classrooms (when it was built),” Nelson wrote. “It had a library and a coat room. There was also a kitchen/auditorium, indoor restrooms and a supply closet. The old Maple Grove school, having done its share for the community, was sold for the sum of $600 and was converted into a private residence.
“It still serves in that fashion today.”