Bell, Florence City Hall

Bell, Florence City Hall. cast bronze , McShane Bell Foundry , Baltimore, Maryland , 1900. , From 1900 to 1954, this bell hung in the clock tower of Florence's second City Hall, on the north side of the 100 block of West Evans Street., Company records of the E. Howard Watch and Clock Company indicate that a clock was installed in Florence's original City Hall in 1894, but it is not known whether that clock was harnessed with a bell; if so, then it was likely damaged in the fire that consumed the building in 1899., When a large new City Hall of Victorian architectural design was constructed in 1900 to replaced the fire-damaged building, this bell was decommissioned and installed., The bell was cast with the names of the city's mayor, clerk and treasurer, as well as the eight city wardens, two for each of the city's four districts (wards)., In 1954, when the City Hall underwent extensive renovations to modernize the interior facade, the bell was removed and presented to the Florence Museum. City Hall was eventually torn down in the 1970s when the city's offices were relocated to a newly completed 11-story municipal office complex on the old courthouse grounds., [Captions:] , Above: Florence city Hall c. 1908. The back of the building housed an auditorium for civic functions and theatrical performances of the Opera House, whose building had also been damaged by the fire that destroyed the original City Hall in 1899., Right: A section of West Evans Street from the 1918 Sanborn Company Fire Insurance Map of Florence, depicting the original location of City Hall. The Opera House and auditorium at the rear of the building were renamed the O'Dowd Theatre in 1911, when they were acquired by John M. O'Dowd, who later became the editor and publisher of the Florence Morning News.