ADM Alumni Victory Bell Fundraising Project

The Alumni Association is grateful for the community’s continued support in its fundraising efforts

The group is fundraising to restore a 150 plus year old victory bell, and all proceeds from The Bash will go directly towards this project.

According to page 2 of the 1946 yearbook, The bell was purchased around 1870, approximately 152 years ago. After I got a closer look at the bell, I learned that it was cast in 1871 and probably purchased that year, 151 years ago.

It resided in the belfry of Adel’s second school building. This image shows that building which is on the same location as the DAC:

According to this January 4, 1956, letter to the Dallas County News editor from members of the Adel Class of 1952, “… several years ago the bell had been removed from the building and has been located at various places on the school grounds for some time.”

According to the 1946 yearbook, the senior class was going to erect a foundation for it.

Then the class of 1952 had donated $100 in class funds to mount the victory bell near the north entrance of the high school.

From these aerial maps, you can make out where the bell resided. Here is a view of the entire school block:

And on this map, you can see the outline of the base where the victory bell was displayed:

This location is the only one I knew of during my time in school from 1958 – 1971. It hung on a structure of metal pipes encased in a chain-linked fence with a concrete base. The bell in the cage was not functional, that is, it was stationary, it did not swing and there was no clapper.

At some point, the school district either sold or gave the bell away. I am thinking it may have been around the time when the current high school on Nile Kinnick Dr S opened in the mid-1980s.

When our alumni association formed in 1997, 25 years ago this coming April 30th, one of our board members, John Dawson, Class of ’65, was interested in the bell.

Around 2000 he tracked it down to someone / somewhere in northwest Iowa. The ADM Alumni Association paid $600 for it and transported it back to Adel. We stored it in a barn at one of our alum’s farms. When our alum moved from the farm, the bell was transferred to the school where it now rests.

John did some additional research on the bell and learned about Benjamin Hanks. In 1775 Benjamin answered the call of Paul Revere’s “midnight ride” and took part in the battle of Lexington and Concord, the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. He continued his service and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Commandant of the fifth regiment of the militia in Connecticut.

In 1786 Benjamin Hanks started a bell foundry in Litchfield, Connecticut. Later, in 1808, he opened a foundry with his son Julius in Troy, New York. The Troy foundry manufactured large church bells. One of the apprentices, Andrew Meneely, went on to open his own foundry. John determined our bell was probably purchased from the Meneely Bell Foundry in West Troy, New York.

After John’s efforts to identify the bell’s history, we had even started fundraising to restore the bell, but after John’s passing in 2002, the idea seemed to pass with him.

I would submit that the school’s bell is one of the older artifacts associated with the city of Adel. With so much history around the bell, the alumni association would like to explore the idea of restoring and displaying it on campus.

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, here are three images of bells displayed in Dallas County:

Near Wells Fargo Bank in Perry – not really accessible because of its height:

A church in Linden – somewhat accessible but no clapper:

Outside of Perry High School – very accessible:

So, there are various ways to display a bell that can function with a yoke and clapper or set up in a stationary fashion for viewing only.

We are making arrangements to get the bell to the Bash. We hope there are a lot of pictures taken of folks with the bell, and those pictures end up on social media.

Jim Peters

ADM Alumni Association
P.O. Box 122 | Adel, Iowa 50003
Website: www.admalumni.com
Facebook: ADMAlumniAssociation