THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997 TAG: 9701110277
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 46 lines
Few people seem to remember the bell that, for years, tolled every half hour in the old City Hall building on North Main Street.
Madeline Lovelace, 91, remembers the bell but can't quite recall its sound.
And although Court Clerk Henry C. Murden worked in City Hall, he never went to look at the bronze bell, which was made in 1865. It weighs about 1,500 pounds and spans 48 inches at its base.
It was removed from one of the building's twin towers after the City Council voted to sell the structure for $175,000 in 1962, to make way for a Woolworth's retail store.
Since then, no one seems to have given it much thought. At least not until about a month ago, when George Y. Birdsong, executive vice president of Birdsong Peanuts Corp., informed Mayor Thomas G. Underwood and City Manager Myles E. Standish that he was storing the bell in one of his warehouses.
Now, city workers are ringing new life into it. The Public Works Department used a heavy-duty truck to pick it up, and workers have cleaned and shined it to its mellow, golden-bronze state.
City officials want to place the bell at the Mills E. Godwin Jr. courthouse that is under construction on the former location of the old City Hall. The $14 million courthouse is on schedule to be finished by next year.
Public Works Director Thomas G. Hines said he hopes residents will hear the bell sound at the opening ceremony for the courthouse.
``We've come full circle on the same piece of land,'' Hines said. ``Any time we can save a piece of history and put it back in public service, it's something we need to do.''
The clapper that made the bell sound is missing, Hines said. Officials hope to find it, or another one. No one has been able to find what happened to the clock with which the bell tolled mechanically.
City Councilman J. Samuel ``Sammy'' Carter, fire chief for 24 years before retiring in 1993, said he remembers when the bell ``bonged'' to alert volunteers to a fire before there were telephones.
Once the city installed a bell behind the fire station, the practice ended, Carter said.
Officials hope the bell can be housed in a park area that will link the parking area with the courthouse entrance.
Maybe then residents such as Murden and Lovelace will hear a sound that jogs their memories.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK CITY HALL