The Village Bell

The Village Bell. . , From this site, the rich vibrant tone of this bell could be heard throughout the village. For over fifty years, beginning in 1890, the village bell announced the outbreak of fire. , When the First Pickering Company of volunteer firemen was formed in 1888, money was collected from the villagers by subscription to ensure fire protection. The men rented the former Canton Presbyterian Church which then stood vacant on this site, and beside the church they built a six storey bell tower. This was considered to be a good central location. Then the volunteer fire fighters ordered a 200 pound bell from the Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company in Troy, New York. When concern was raised that the bell might not be large enough to be heard everywhere, it was returned and this 500 pound bell was cast. Whenever fire was discovered in the village, the first person to reach the fire hall would ring the bell to call the volunteers to report for duty. , Besides its principal function as a fire alarm, the bell was rung four times daily by a paid bell-ringer at the hours of 7, 12, 1 and 6 to announce the beginning of the work day, lunch time, the end of lunch hour and the close of the work day. On Sundays the bell called the villagers to worship at the various churches. , On V-E day, May 8, 1945, the bell rang out the good news all that day and the next, that the Second World War was over. , Among those citizens who were employed as bell-ringers were: George Gilders, Richard Moore, Isaac Wise, Robert Ham, George Cowan, Robert Rankin, George Elliott, and his wife, Elsie, the only woman known to have performed this duty. The Elliotts were the last bell ringers. , The village fire bell, though now silent, bears quiet testimony to earlier times in the Village of Pickering.