Georgetown’s St. Patrick’s bell created in 1898 taken down to be refurbished

A big change has happened at St. Patrick’s Church in Georgetown. The bell which has graced the roof of the church since 1899 was taken down to be refurbished last Tuesday, June 23 after 127 years.

The plan is for it to return to its perch on top of the church, inside a newly fashioned steeple later this year and it has been a multi-year process to get to this point.

The story of the bell actually begins with the passing of James McFadden. He left the church $400 for something “to be forever placed in the Church at St. Patrick’s Georgetown.”

Church members held a meeting and decided to purchase a bell with the money. The bell was purchased from McShane Baltimore and is inscribed with the message, “Presented to St. Patrick’s Church, Georgetown, Iowa, in Memory of James McFadden. ‘Pray for me.’”

A christening ceremony was held for the bell on Dec. 8, 1899. William P. Judge and Kate Whalen were the godparents and the bell was washed inside and out with holy water as prayers were offered. Then it was placed in the bell tower, where it has remained until last Tuesday.

The plan to take down the bell and steeple has been years in the making and the bell has not been able to be rung for a few years now.

The cross on top of the steeple was removed first and plans are to auction it off at this year’s God’s Portion fundraiser, held each year in Georgetown.

The rest of the steeple was taken down and disposed of and a new one will be made by Kaster Fabrication. The original steeple was made of wood and clad in metal. The new one will be much lighter, but will otherwise look like the original steeple except for the cross and torches being gold.

The bell has been shipped back to the company that originally created it to be refurbished over the next several months. The company has been in business since 1856 and is currently headquartered in St. Louis. According to Joe Sinclair, when the church members first began researching how to fix the bell, they had no idea the company still existed.

“I read the stamp on the back of the bell, Googled it up, and Holy Cow, they were still in business,” said Sinclair.

Sinclair said the company still regularly works on items like Georgetown’s bell that were created well over a century ago.

According to the original order information for the bell, which the company still has, it was ordered on Nov. 5, 1898.The bell is made out of brass and weighs 1,550 pounds. The clapper and bolt weigh 163 pounds for a total of 1,713 pounds, not including the yoke, which Sinclair though weighed an additional 400-500 pounds.

Sinclair aid the plan is to reinstall the bell by September if everything goes smoothly.