Church hopes to bring back 150-year-old bell
Saturday December 25, 2004
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) A pastor is hoping to bring back a bell that was made for a factory of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful railroads and that sat unused in a church basement for more than 50 years.
``A bell isn't a bell unless it's able to ring out. I think the fact it's in such great shape even after all these years is a sign that this bell is destined to ring again,'' said the Rev. James B. Coveney, pastor of St. Mark's Catholic Church in Altoona. ``... It rang for celebration, it rang for sadness, it rang for prayer. I want to hear it ring for the city to hear once again.''
The Pennsylvania Railroad hired Meneely & Co. of West Troy, N.Y., in 1850 to cast the half sized replica of the Liberty Bell for its roundhouse and repair shops in Altoona.
In its heyday during the 1930s and 1940s, the factory's 17,000 people turned out 23,000 freight cars and cabooses, equivalent to a 175-mile-long train. In all, the shops around Altoona built 7,000 locomotives and enough freight cars to extend 2,500 miles if connected.
For 45 years, the bell called workers to the shops until it was replaced with a steam whistle in 1895.
Seven years later, the bell was bought by parishioners of St. Mark's and it was placed in the church's clock tower. The clock tower was dismantled 50 years ago and the bell was put in a storage room where it remained until recently, when Coveney found it.
The church hopes to build a new tower for the bell and Coveney estimates it will cost as much as $60,000 to restore the bell and construct the tower.
``I'd like to think many of our parishioners and people in the business community would like to be part of this effort to bring back a reminder of the old Altoona,'' he said. ``We want it to ring again in memory of all we've lived.''
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On the Net: http://www.stmarksofaltoona.org/
Information from: Altoona Mirror, http://www.altoonamirror.com
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Saturday December 25, 2004
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) A pastor is hoping to bring back a bell that was made for a factory of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful railroads and that sat unused in a church basement for more than 50 years.
``A bell isn't a bell unless it's able to ring out. I think the fact it's in such great shape even after all these years is a sign that this bell is destined to ring again,'' said the Rev. James B. Coveney, pastor of St. Mark's Catholic Church in Altoona. ``... It rang for celebration, it rang for sadness, it rang for prayer. I want to hear it ring for the city to hear once again.''
The Pennsylvania Railroad hired Meneely & Co. of West Troy, N.Y., in 1850 to cast the half sized replica of the Liberty Bell for its roundhouse and repair shops in Altoona.
In its heyday during the 1930s and 1940s, the factory's 17,000 people turned out 23,000 freight cars and cabooses, equivalent to a 175-mile-long train. In all, the shops around Altoona built 7,000 locomotives and enough freight cars to extend 2,500 miles if connected.
For 45 years, the bell called workers to the shops until it was replaced with a steam whistle in 1895.
Seven years later, the bell was bought by parishioners of St. Mark's and it was placed in the church's clock tower. The clock tower was dismantled 50 years ago and the bell was put in a storage room where it remained until recently, when Coveney found it.
The church hopes to build a new tower for the bell and Coveney estimates it will cost as much as $60,000 to restore the bell and construct the tower.
``I'd like to think many of our parishioners and people in the business community would like to be part of this effort to bring back a reminder of the old Altoona,'' he said. ``We want it to ring again in memory of all we've lived.''
^ =
On the Net: http://www.stmarksofaltoona.org/
Information from: Altoona Mirror, http://www.altoonamirror.com
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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