The Bell

The Bell. . , Dr. Richard Forrest served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Toccoa, Georgia, from 1925-1950. When the original framed church building was torn down and a new sanctuary built in 1926, members of the church's congregation agrees to donate the bell from the old belfry to Toccoa Falls Institute. , Today, it sits quietly in the center of campus, but for many years, it played an important role in the day-to-day activities of the college. It rang to signal the change of classes - from the "rising bell" in the morning until the "lights out" bell at night. after the installation of the automatic signal system on campus, the old bell became a "victory bell" for athletic games. , On November 6, 1977, after nearly five days of continual rain, the dam above Toccoa Falls failed and an estimated 176 million gallons of water surged through a narrow creek bed and toward the sleeping campus of Toccoa Falls. Those on the lower campus had little time to react to the danger. Students immediately rushed to the center of campus and began ringing the bell in an effort to wake those who were sleeping. By the early 1980s, the bell had been a part of list at Toccoa Falls for more than 50 years. College officials decided it was time to retire the bell in an effort to prevent mischievous students from ringing it in the early morning hours.