Festival of the Bells
Annually the City of Hillsboro, Ohio, sponsors a festival near the fourth of July. This is known as the Festival of the Bells, and commemorates Hillsboro's heritage as a major bell producer.
The Festival of the Bells celebrated each July in Hillsboro, Ohio, is an
outgrowth of a successful 1976 Bicentennial Celebration of the founding of our country.
When local citizens were searching for a permanent name for a yearly celebration,
it was noted that at one time Hillsboro was famous for the production of steel alloy bells,
which were shipped around the world.
In addition to church, school, farm and mission bells (one of these was listed
among the "Bells That Changed The World" used on Molokai Island by Fr.
Damien to call his stricken lepers to worship), there were thousands of Invasion
Bells used on U.S. Navy ships during the invasion of Normandy June 6,
all manufactured by our local C.S. Bell Company.
The huge bell in front of the Highland County Historical Society, on Main Street,
was a mate to the largest bell ever cast by the foundry.
It was used in a parade when the town was 100 years old and again at the
celebration of the Sesquicentennial in 1957.
During the war years it was used to sell bonds and finally to ring the glad tidings of peace.
Charles Singleton Bell was born in Cumberland, Maryland on February 7, 1828.
After completing a common school education he went to Pittsburgh to learn the foundry business from his
uncle, Alexander Bradley.
He came to Ohio to take charge of the Whitley Foundry in Springfield and later moved on to Dayton.
On January 7, 1858, he began the operation of his own company in Hillsboro.
Starting with two employees and a weekly payroll of $7.00,
they processed 8 tons of pig iron the first year.
The early foundry was located in a frame building near the B & O Railroad Depot.
A few years later, a second foundry was built on the corner of Main and North West Streets.
James K. Marley became a partner and ran the showroom while Mr. Bell operated the foundry.
In 1869, Bell purchased Marley's interest and continued to add more
items to his list of products, which were to include Mogul stoves, caboose
stoves, coffee hullers and pulpers, grinders, corn and cob crushers, burr and
hammer typed feed mills, a machine called the "Tortilla" (used in Mexico and
South America to grind hominy), sorghum and maple syrup evaporators, plows and
garden rollers, and the "Perfection" cane mill made to be sold by the Montgomery Ward Company.
The manufacture of bells began in 1875. Sales for the first year came to something over 1,000 units. By 1890, sales had increased to over 20,000 and fifteen sizes were being produced. The bells were divided into two classes, farm bells weighing from 40 to 100 pounds each, and school and church bells known as "steel alloy bells" weighing from 150 to 1,000 pounds. Mr. Bell experimented with formulas of various metals searching for an alloy cheaper to produce than brass, but more durable than iron. After many failures he was successful and discovered that his alloy could be pitched to create a very mellow tone. It was this tone and durability that made his bells famous throughout the world.
Mr. Bell was a prominent citizen of Hillsboro, and is still regarded as one of the town's greatest benefactors. He built Bell's Opera House in 1895, at a cost of $40,000. He was a stockholder in the McKeehan and Hiestand Wholesale Company, the Merchants National Bank, a partner in a hardware firm with John McCoppin, and served on the Village Council and Board of Education for many years. In 1887, Mr. Bell was appointed chairman of a committee to establish a library, The Hillsboro Reading Room, which was located on the second floor of the Town Hall. In January 1880, the Columbus and Maysville Railroad Company was organized in Hillsboro with C.S. Bell as President. In 1848, Mr. Bell married Mary Louisa Roberts. They were the parents of five children. Charles E., Alice Morton who married L.B. Boyd, John who died in 1891, Cora E. and May. Between 1882 and 1885, the Bell family built "Clover Lawn" a three story brick mansion located on Oak Street, currently being renovated by the Odland Family who suggested the theme of The Festival of the Bells.
For a time, sales of the bells slowed so the company again concentrated
on manufacturing labor saving farm machinery until defense contracts prior to
World War II caused a shortage of brass and copper.
Hearing that the Bureau of Ships was looking for a metal substitute,
Virginia Bell took one of her grandfathers alloy bells to Washington D.C.
and personally obtained a contract.
The Bell foundry manufactured all ship's bells for the United States, Great Britain and their allies during the war.
Editor's Note: The assertion in the previous sentence seems highly unlikely,
since bronze bells were always used for capital ships, even in wartime.
However, it is possible that the C.S.Bell foundry
made all bells for certain classes of small ships for the United States during the war,
or all bells for ships produced by certain shipyards.
This online document is a slightly edited version of the original direct representation of a brochure made possible through the combined efforts of the Highland County Historical Society and the Festival of The Bells Committee.
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