There is more than one way to preserve the sound of historic church bells. These in a decorative clock tower to note a city Anniversary is one we love at The Verdin Company.
In 2014 the St. Louis Roman Catholic Church was decommissioned. The Cote Corporation, which provides cranes and lifts to the local community, generously removed and stored four historic bells:
- 1200 lbs. note of F#
- 600 lbs. note of A
- 350 lbs. note of C#
- 225 lbs. note of D#
Cast by Paccard in 1916 these bells have a special place in the hearts of past parishioners. Similarly, the local community wanted to hear them ring regularly again!
The Verdin Company had worked with the St. Louis bells starting in 1990. As a result, we’d had conversations, both with the church and community, as the historic church bells were relocated. After that, the City of Auburn, Maine approached The Verdin Company. The city shared their current goal to revitalize the New Auburn Village Center and celebrate their anniversary. Needless to say, a beautiful bell and clock tower is a wonderful way to commemorate the occasion of 150 years! The tower also brings life to a local pocket park in the heart of the village center.
Talks of the tower itself started in late 2017 with the St. Louis Church bells as a focal point, one of our favorite parts of this project! Through the use of Verdin’s production group, engineers and architects worked together to create different designs and drawings. With the layout of multiple plans, the city was able to decide on the specific design shared here.
Some elements of the tower include
- Three columns supporting the 40 – foot tower
- Rolled arches with decorative rings
- Standing seam roof with a weather vane
- Three anniversary clocks
In addition, the work on the bells include…
- Sandblast/Polish
- New inside strikers
- A Verdin digital bell controller
To see photos of the installation of the tower view this article in the Sun Journal.
After years of fundraising, Verdin was happy to see the City of Auburn, Maine commemorate their anniversary with the dedication of their dream tower in Anniversary Park.
Although a project such as this can take time to develop, Verdin has the resources to make it as painless as possible. From our production group to our install team, we will be there every step of the way.
Makes sure to check out more on our towers here with additional photos of Verdin towers projects here!
Edit: after we posted this we received this lovely feedback from city officials…
- “Thank you so much for these photos and this lovely post! …”We are so proud of those bells and that tower…thank you for everything you did to so beautifully preserve, protect, and showcase them.”
Director of Communications, Technology & Community Engagement - “We love the tower and have had a lot of positive feedback.”
Director of Planning and Permitting
