When the Chapel of St. John’s opened for worship on
November 17, 1859, people were welcomed with the ringing of the bell installed
over the entranceway. That bell still
rings today, calling the faithful to worship.
Before and after the 10 AM Service our own Christopher Baetz is often
found ringing this bell! It is rung by pulling
the rope in the entranceway of the chapel, making it swing back and forth.
When the Church opened in 1861 the tower was also
equipped with a bell. This bell can be
rung two ways. It can be swung, and it
can be tolled as well. There are two separate
ropes on the second story of the bell tower, one for each function on the same
bell. This bell gets its best workout on
Thanksgiving Day as the children in attendance at the parade festivities at St.
John’s take turns ringing it to greet Saint Nicholas as he passes the Church!
A set of chimes was installed in the bell tower in 1914
in memory of Joseph Gardner Standard who died in 1912. These were a series of tuned tubes that could
be played by pulling ropes for simple hymn tunes. At some point in the 1970s the apparatus deteriorated,
and the chimes sold for scrap according to a parishioner who helped remove them
from the tower at the request of the then Rector.
An electronic carillon was installed and dedicated in
1989. This Schulmerich system was top of the line for that era,
with a digital audio tape player to play hymns.
Also programmed onto the device was the Westminster Chimes, ringing on
the quarter hour. By 2001 the digital audio
tape player ceased working and parts unavailable. In subsequent years the late Chris Sayers
made it a personal mission to keep the rest of it working, replacing amplifiers
and other parts as they stopped performing their functions. In the summer of 2021 it was deemed beyond
repair.
A replacement system was installed in the summer of
2022. The Schulmerich Bell Company was
purchased by Verdin Bells, and the new device is the best of both company’s
technology. Only 10 percent the size of
the previous device, the new unit has thousands of hymns and different types of
bell ringing patterns stored on it, which can be programmed to play at
appointed times of the day. Currently it
is programmed to ring the Westminster Chimes at the quarter hour from 7 AM to
11 PM (Noon to 11 PM on Sunday), ring the Angelus Prayer at Noon and 6 PM, and
play hymns at 12:02 and 5:02 PM.
The tolling bell was rung for 20 minutes on September
8th when news was received of the passing the Queen Elizabeth.
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