The Clover Bend Bell
The Clover Bend Bell story dates back to the 1800’s and is one of the most honored symbols of a founder of Clover Bend, Alice French; world renowned writer. Here then, is the STORY OF THE CLOVER BEND BELL.
In 1885, Alice French and FW Tucker ordered a bell suitable for the Clover Bend School. The LM Rumsey Manufacturing Company in St. Louis was selected for this task. The bell was to be hung in the Clover Bend School Building for calling the community for school, church or emergencies. The bell weighed five hundred pounds when finished and was made of brass. The clapper was twenty four inches long and the circumference is also 24 inches.
The bell was shipped from St. Louis to Clover Bend by riverboat on the normal shipping route. It travelled from St. Louis down the Mississippi, up the Arkansas, White and Black Rivers to Clover bend, where it was hung in the belfry which had been designed and constructed personally by Alice French. The bell was rung every Sunday and on special occasions.
In December 1938, the bell was left in the two room school at “Old Clover Bend” when the larger school was built at the new community center, which was part of the Agriculture Relocation Program. A church group met in the school building and the bell continued to ring every Sunday for the next fifteen years. The church closed its doors in the 1950’s.
In 1960 the bell began its second life. It was placed in storage until 1967, when a new church building was completed. The bell was placed in the new belfry and in or about 1967. The bell was rung only one time in its new location. In 1991 the church combined with a larger church in Walnut Ridge, and gave a deed building, with the bell still in the belfry, to that church.
Shortly, the Clover Bend Historical Preservation Association asked that the bell be donated to the Clover Bend School, for which it had been struck. The church body voted unanimously “yes-the school is where the Clover Bend Bell belongs”.
In March of 1991, the bell began its third life. It was lowered from the belfry of the church by several graduates of Clover Bend high School and was placed in storage until the CBHPA Board could properly present the bell to the community. In 1992 the bell was placed atop the Bell Pavilion, which had been designed by architect Steve Saunders and constructed specifically for the Clover Bend Bell. The walkway connecting The Bell Pavilion is located in front of the Community Center is surrounded by tablets of Georgia gray granite engraved with the names of families who have roots in this part of Lawrence County. Because Clover Bend was once the county seat of Lawrence County, names of all our county judges, legislators and other dignitaries are engraved there. Also names of teachers, school support staff and graduates are etched in the granite slabs.
An official “Ringing of the Bell” kicked off reunion activities in 1992. It rang out again in 1993 and has been rung every year since then. At the annual reunions, the new tradition is Clover Bend Citizens 75 years and older may ring the bell.
Viola Meadows
1994
