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This bell is an integral part of the history of Medford. It
was cast in 1860 by Henry N. Hooper Company of Boston with a 44
inch diameter, 1,700 lbs. weight , in F sharp.
he bell was constructed for the presidential campaign of
the Constitutional Union Party candidates John Bell (President)
and Edward Everett (Vice-President) with the inscription:
"Massachusetts for the Union, the Constitutuion and the
Enforcement of the Laws". On the opposite side were the words
"Bell & Everett, 1860". In that year the bell, mounted on a dray
and accompanied by several men to ring it, was pulled by six
white horses throughout Massachusetts.
Days after Lincoln's victory, the Trinitatian Society
purchased the bell from the state committee of the
Constitutional Union Party with insurance money from their
fire ravaged church at 44 High Street. The Trinitarians has
already donated one hundred silver dollars to be melted into
the bell when it as cast. In 1874 the bell was moved to the
remodeled Mystic Congregational Church at 30 Salem Street. It
remained there until 1990 when the weakened steeple was
removed from the new England Baptist Church. The bell was
purchased by the City of Medford and moved to this location
through the efforts of mayor Michael McGlynn and the Medford
City Council.
Medford Historical Society 1990
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