has been affixed to one leg of the heavy timber frame which now supports the bell. Of note is the fact that their highly polished cast iron the bell cost the city $1,900 1890 dollars, a pretty substantial sum at the time.
Chewelah's Historic Fire Alarm Bell
This historic bell was reportedly cast in 1889 and purchased by the Spokane Fire Department in 1890 from the McShanne Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland.
The 1800 pound bell cost the City of Spokane $1900 - more than $1 per pound. It became known as Spokane's "hoodoo" alarm bell and was replaced by a new alarm system several years later.
In the summer of 1908, Chewelah's newly formed Fire Department, headed by Fire Chief S. F. Doran, decided there was an acute need for an alarm bell to call out the volunteer firemen. (There had been two very destructive fires in town the previous fall.) Several dances were held to raise money to finance the purchase of a bell and by late fall nearly $100 was collected.
In November a former Spokane councilman whose family lived in Chewelah passed along the information that Spokane's old fire alarm bell had been replaced by a new alarm system and had been relegated to the "bone yard". The bell was located and found to be in excellent shape. Before a deal could be made, several other towns announced their interest in purchasing the bell. But after three days of negotiations with Spokane officials who were holding out for $500, Chewelah Fire Chief Doran, aided by the former councilman, succeeded in acquiring the alarm bell for the sum of $375. The Chewelah City Council voted to pay the balance of the purchase price.
The bell arrived in Chewelah on Friday, December 11, and was installed in the bell tower at City Hall. By Saturday evening it had been placed in position by Mr. Thielman, head engineer and electrician for the City of Spokane and was pronounced ready to give the alarm for volunteer firemen and citizens of the growing town of Chewelah. It was estimated that the bell, when sounded, could be heard distinctly for a distance of several miles and there would be no sleeping within a radius of several blocks, at least.
This bell served the community for a number of years before it was replaced by the present siren system. The bell continues to serve, ringing occasionally for school football, basketball and other sports victories, special events, Halloween pranks - and once in a while rung by someone who just wants to once again hear the "bell alarm" with nostalgic thoughts of by gone days.
From the Historical Marker