Old City Exchange Bell

by Norma Brandsberg

Title

Old City Exchange Bell

Artist

Norma Brandsberg

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

This bell, which is believed to the oldest in Georgia, bears the date 1802. Imported from Amsterdam, it hung in the cupola of the City Exchange from 1804 until a short time before that building was razed to make way for the present City Hall.

In its day, the bell signalled the closing time for shops and was rung by a watchman when fire broke out. Its rich tones were heard in celebration of American victories during the War of 1812. It pealed a welcome to such distinguinshed visitors to Savannah as Monroe, LaFayette, Polk, Fillmore, Clay and Webster and it tolled tributes for America’s illustrious dead.

The tower of the City Exchange, where the bell hung, was a favorite resort of those anxious about the arrival of vessels. The replica of the tower in which the historic bell presently reposes on Bay Street, was erected in 1957 through the combined efforts of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, the Pilot Club of Savannah and the Savannah-Chatham Historic Site and Monument Commission.

The Exchange Bell was acquired by the Rourke Iron Works, where it hung until 1940, when the tower holding the bell came down in a hurricane. Walter L. Mingledorff acquired it, and gave it to the Chamber of Commerce. It was kept at the Dixie Machine Works until a replica of the old Exchange belfry was constructed on Bay Street, just east of the old Cotton Exchange building, which became the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce.

It was a rainy overcast day in the Winton M. Blount Cultural Park, Montgomery, Alabama. Touring with friends in the area I saw this wonderful sculpture off in the distance as it was pouring rain outside. Not to be dissuaded I jumped out of the car and caught this sculpture of running frocking kids jumping over a puddle against one of the museums.

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October 12th, 2020

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