Bells had graced the steeple of Lititz Moravian church from its early days. Then in 1850 Samuel Grosh – shop keeper, church officer, and one-time member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature – left a bequest of $100.00 to the congregation for purchase of a new bell. Negotiations for the selection and purchase were entrusted to Jacob Tshudy, who wasted no time in contacting the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy (now Watervliet), New York.
In a letter dated 7 August 1850 Andrew Meneely responds to Tshudy’s initial inquiry, providing a cost of $0.28/pound for a bell of any size, plus a charge of $32.00 for complete hangings of yoke and wheel for bells of 500 or 600 pounds and $35.00 for those of 700 or 800 pounds. Apparently Tshudy had provided dimensions of the steeple in his initial correspondence, for Meneely offers the opinion that “the interior of your steeple or bell room is sufficiently capacious for a bell of 800 or 900 pounds. The aperture however at the side through which the Bell must be introduced will not admit of a larger Bell than one of my 500 pound pattern.” The letter also offers a credit of $0.20/pound for the old bell, provided that it is shipped back to them after the new one is received.
