Anaconda City Hall Bell - Anaconda, MT - Bells on Waymarking.com

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Anaconda City Hall Bell - Anaconda, MT

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Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 349002 N 5110081

Kennedy Commons is Anaconda's major downtown park, occupying a full city block along the west side of Main Street between Third and Fourth Streets.

One of the nicer additions to the park is this bell, the original bell at the city hall on Commercial Avenue, built in 1895. The city hall originally housed the city offices, the police department, jail and the fire department, so we can assume that this was the town's fire bell.

You'll notice that the plaque indicates that the bell was cast in 1883, yet not mounted until 1895. The bell is a product of Meneely (spelled Meneeley on the plaque) & Company, of West Troy, New York. On June 29th, 1977 it was installed at the park.

"The Meneely Bell Foundry was a bell foundry established in 1826 in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York, by Andrew Meneely, a former apprentice in the foundry of Benjamin Hanks. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, while a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, opened a second foundry across the river with George H. Kimberly in Troy, New York in 1870. Initially named the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, this second foundry was reorganized in 1880 as the Clinton H. Meneely Company, then again as the Meneely Bell Company. Together, the two foundries produced about 65,000 bells before they closed in 1952."
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