102-year-old Bell, Tower Taken Down
Gilson School Roof To Be Fixed
September 25, 2004
By TAMMY BOULD
of The Register-Mail
GILSON - For 74 years it faithfully called children to class and then it sat silent for 27 years.
Friday, the 102-year-old bell at Gilson School was removed, along with the bell tower, so needed repairs could be done to the leaking roof. The work is the latest project of the Gilson School Foundation, formed in 1996 to restore the largest remaining all-wood building in Knox County.
Workers from Hein Construction Company started at 8 a.m. to detach the bell tower, located 55 feet above the ground. A dozen people watched the work: former students, a former janitor and neighbors. When the crane from Galesburg Sign and Lighting Inc. arrived, the top of the tower was removed first. Then it was time to lower the bell and its mounting.
The steel bell was made by American Bell and Foundry Company, Northville, Mich. The bell weighs 800 pounds, 1,300 pounds with its mounting. Workers decided to remove the bell with its mounting. As it was lifted off the top of the school and lowered gently to the ground, it slowly twirled around until it was carefully placed on cement blocks.
Showing its age, it was covered with bird droppings, and the bottom of the wood flywheel, used to hold the rope that rung the bell, was rotted away.
Sue Garoutte, president of the foundation, said workers from MSI, Galesburg, have built a galvanized steel cap to place at the base of the tower. Her son John will paint the bell tower for his Eagle Scout service project. The foundation plans to use the old flywheel as a pattern to make a new one. The bell will be cleaned, too.
