Lititz Moravian Souvenir Bell

 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. 

Three weeks later, after additional exchange of correspondence, a contract was concluded for shipment of a bell of 613 pounds with the hangings and wheel, for a total charge of $203.64. Meneely notes in the cover letter that “the tone of the Bell is C and its ring, I think, will please.” The bell was to be shipped by barge to Philadelphia, then by cart to Lancaster and on to Lititz. When it had not arrived by September 10th, Jacob Tshudy sent a letter of inquiry to Meneely, who replied on September 14th, “I have made inquiries of the agent of the line where the bell was shipped, who informs me that it was forwarded immediately, but is probably delayed by the break in your canal.”

Finally on September 27th, the agent in Philadelphia reported by letter to Mr. Tshudy, “Dear Sir, the Bell has just arrived, will send it tomorrow if there is any cart in town.”  Though the file contains no description of its installation at the church, delivery and hanging must have proceeded without additional delay. A letter sent from the bell foundry on October 29th confirms their receipt of the trade-in, which had arrived that day and been “weighed on both our scales 293 pounds,” thus generating a credit of $62.01 and leaving a balance due of $141.63. When drayage charges were added, the total came to $183.89, minus the bequest of Samuel Grosh of $100.00, leaving a cost of $83.89 to be borne by the congregation. The bell thus secured served Lititz Moravian for nearly 107 years, until the tragic fire of 2 July 1957 sent it crashing to the sanctuary floor.

The first months after the fire were dedicated to clean-up and salvage. A building committee was established under the leadership of John Muth, and the determination was made to restore the sanctuary as much as possible to the structure and appearance that it had had prior to the tragedy. In that fire two bells fell, the large Grosh bell and a smaller one which rang the quarter hours. The Grosh bell was damaged but still essentially in one piece. It was placed on a wooden platform in the parking area behind the church, where it would remain while reconstruction continued.

The most important decision to make in regard to the bells was whether to recast the existing bells, or to order new ones. A Building Committee (hereafter “B.C.”) report of 9 January 1958 indicates that Mr. Reidenbaugh was to request costs of each course of action, so that an informed decision could be made. A Church Council held on 7 April 1958 approved the purchase of a complete new bell. Subsequently, the file regarding the bells was turned over to a fundraising committee.

After the firm decision had been made to order new bells for the rebuilt church, the question remained as to what to do with the Grosh bell and its small companion. Using them for trade-in credit was a possibility. In March 1959, however, members of the Dieners’ Corps approached Brother Al Douple with the suggestion to have small souvenir bells produced from the old bells and sold as a fundraiser to help furnish the Preparation Room. This plan was accepted by the Building Committee, and B. Forrest was instructed to notify the Verdin Company that the damaged bells would be retained by the congregation rather than being sent for credit.

On August 4th the Trustees approved a motion to lend $1,000 from the building fund to the Dieners so as to finance the casting of the souvenir bells. The old bells had been sent to Bevin Brothers Bells, located in East Hampton, Connecticut. On August 12th the B.C. approved an invoice of $462.36 for 500 bells, which were to be sold by the Dieners for $3.00 each. From the proceeds the Dieners were first to reimburse the Trustees for monies advanced and the salvage value of the old bells.

The August 27th issue of the Lititz Record Express carried this notice: Moravian Bells Recast for Sale. The two bells on the Moravian church at the time of the fire have been recast into 1,000 small silver bells that will be sold by the dieners of the church for the benefit of the coffee kitchen. The two bells, one to call to services and the other to strike the quarter of the hours, weighed over 600 pounds and were recast in Connecticut. The little bells are four inches in height and have the inscription “Lititz Moravian Church 1787 – 1957.”

Thanks to the meticulous record-keeping of Sister Martha Sturgis, who was handling the accounts for the Sacristans in 1959, to the dieners who carefully preserved those records, and to Sister Darlene Bucher, who recently shared the account books and ledgers with me, we now have precise figures for the project. One thousand bells were ordered; one thousand one bells were received for sale. The Building Committee took twenty to sell. Another sixty were sold through the Church Office. The remainder were distributed to twelve persons, presumably most of them on the Dieners Corps of the time.

Sales were completed through the months of September and October. By the end of October $3,007.00 had been received and deposited – 1,001 at $3.00 each plus four dollars in extra donations. Then in November Bevin Bros. sent 48 additional bells plus $58.00 as payment for scrap metal salvaged from the manufacturing process. By December 29 those bells had also been sold, and $144.00 was added to the fundraising total. At the 20 March 1960 meeting of the Sacristans, Martha Sturgis reported that the net profit from the sale of 1049 bells had been $2,128.69.

The total cost of the Grosh bell in 1850, including transport costs and credit for the old bell, had been $245.90. That was the equivalent of $880.95 in 1959 dollars. The bell served the congregation well for more than one hundred years, then served again through its demise, providing recovery funds in an amount nearly two and one-half times its original cost when adjusted for inflation. Samuel Grosh’s bequest was truly a generous and long-lasting gift to the congregation.