Frank Boyett wrote the earliest mention of the bell he could find is on page 269 of Country Court Order Book E, which is dated Dec. 22, 1845. County Court ordered that $160 be paid to James Marlatt for the bell and that Phillip Van Bussum be paid $16 to hang it in the courthouse cupola. The bell probably was installed sometime in 1846, however, considering it was bought in late December 1845.
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Henderson history: The old courthouse bell has rung out triumphs, tragedies by Frank Boyett
Chances are, you’ve often passed by a centerpiece of local history − one that sounded the death knell of President Abraham Lincoln − without realizing its significance.
I’m talking, of course, about the bell that topped the Henderson County Courthouse for nearly 120 years and is now mounted at the north basement door of the current courthouse. The 1843 courthouse was a Greek Revival structure that opened that October, according to E.L. Starling’s “History of Henderson County.” It was razed beginning in December 1963.
Henderson County Court – forerunner to fiscal court – appointed a committee in April 1840 to begin looking into building a new courthouse and that October it determined to proceed with the project. In February 1842 a committee was appointed to draft plans for the structure and during the April term the court decided that it be advertised for bids and cost no more than $10,000.
Littleberry Weaver was the low bidder at $9,400 and Magistrate Edmund H. Hopkins was appointed to supervise the work. Between June and October 1843 county government was housed in the leased Baptist church.
The earliest mention of the bell I could find is on page 269 of Country Court Order Book E, which is dated Dec. 22, 1845. County Court ordered that $160 be paid to James Marlatt for the bell and that Phillip Van Bussum be paid $16 to hang it in the courthouse cupola.
“That same bell still hangs and for the last sixteen years has struck the hours to the great comfort and convenience of the people,” Starling wrote in his 1887 book.
You’re wondering, no doubt, about Starling’s arithmetic, because 1887 minus 16 equals 1871. I can’t explain that.
The best I can do is further confuse you with a sentence fragment from an April 4, 1905, article in the Twice-a-Week Gleaner, which provided a brief history of the courthouse: “The bell now in the cupola costing $160 was placed there in the year 1871….”
The bell probably was installed sometime in 1846, however, considering it was bought in late December 1845. There is primary source documentation to support that conclusion.
Henderson County Court Order Book E, on page 303, gave the town trustees permission July 27, 1846, to ring the bell “every night at any hour they may think proper.” The trustees took them up on that offer a few days later.
Henderson’s first curfew apparently was drafted to control prostitution, slaves and “disorderly persons.” The town trustee minutes from July 30, 1846, initially made 10 p.m. the curfew but on Aug. 15 the trustees came back and set the curfew at 9 p.m.
“Ordered that the town sergeant ring the courthouse bell every night at 10 o’clock or cause same to be done. It is further ordered that all slaves, night walkers and disorderly persons who are found strolling about in the night 15 minutes after the ringing of the bell be arrested and dealt with according to law.”
Starling added, “At the ringing of the bell, but few persons were to be seen on the streets, and those who were out made haste to avoid the town watch.”
Furthermore, page 349 of Order Book E says, “The frame upon which the courthouse bell is placed has gotten out of fix” and the bell “will not ring conveniently.” County Court authorized William D. Allison to oversee the repairs.
That bell rang out on numerous occasions, to mark the hours, the convening of court, and the time for all good people to be indoors, Starling reports.
What apparently was Henderson’s first bank robbery began with a mounted troop of 21 guerrillas riding up to the Farmers Bank at Second and Elm Streets at 11 a.m. Sept. 10, 1864. They emerged carrying a sack into which they had stuffed $8,430. The guerrillas also robbed four stores of nearly $400 worth of goods.
“Having plundered to their hearts’ content, they retired with their ill-gotten gain and the ill will of every citizen. Shortly after their departure, squads of men collected on the street, and many of them gave vent to their displeasure in forcible language. The Court House bell was rung, and rich and poor, large and small, collected in the building, and every man and boy who could find a musket, shotgun or pistol brought them forward” to participate in the town’s protection.
A tragedy caused the bell to be sounded the following year, Starling writes.
“On Saturday, April 16 (1865), the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received, and thereupon Mayor (David) Banks issued his proclamation directing all stores to be closed from 10 o’clock for the remainder of the day, and at 10 o’clock for all of the bells of the city to be tolled, in respect to the memory of the departed president. Many merchants, although strongly opposed to Mr. Lincoln politically, draped their store fronts in mourning.”
Happier occasions for hearing the bell included the celebrations at the end of World Wars I and II.
Let’s now take a closer look at the bell itself. There is an inscription on it that reads:“A. Fulton“PittsburghFor Doctr Kean”
I checked with sources in Pittsburgh and am unable to identify Doctor Kean, except to note Pittsburgh experienced a huge fire April 10, 1845. Nor am I able to provide the hometown of James Marlatt, the man who sold the bell to Henderson County. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say Henderson County bought a second-hand bell in 1846 from a junk man.
But I found quite a bit of information about A. Fulton – probably much more than you want to know, so I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version.
An 1879 book by Richard Edwards called “Industries of Pittsburgh” has this to say: “The business was originated in 1832 by Andrew Fulton Sr. with a capital so small that his operations were confined to one room, his only employee being himself…. The bells that are cast at this foundry vibrate over the entire United States and peal across the remotest waters of the globe” on steamboats.
The company grew, was destroyed in the 1845 fire, but was rebuilt and lasted three generations. It is credited with casting the first bell manufactured west of the Alleghenies and in 1866 cast a 3,000-pound behemoth for the city of Pittsburgh.
I’ll end by returning to the Henderson County bell, which was mounted in its current position the first week of November 1967, according to a photo caption in The Gleaner of Nov. 8, 1967. The photo depicts Sue Knight of the Chamber of Commerce testing the clapper to see if it still works. It does.
