Temporary, relocated or defunct
North American tower bell instruments

Some carillons and chimes in North America were installed temporarily in expositions or fairs of various kinds.  Many of these were later reinstalled elsewhere.  Other carillons were relocated from their original places of installation for various reasons.  And some have been destroyed or stolen, and were not replaced.  Since it is not appropriate to index such defunct instruments in the same manner as extant instruments, they are listed here.  Where appropriate, an institutional name (either original or current) offers a link to a minimal site data page, where some additional information might be found.

The lists below present, in appropriate orders, the original locations of such instruments.

NOTE: Tower bell instruments which have been down-sized (e.g., from carillon to chime) or downgraded (from traditional to non-traditional action), but which remain in their original locations, are not listed here.  They can be found on a page about degraded instruments.

EXPOSITIONS:

Carillons known to have been part of various North American exhibitions or expositions, or to have come to North America after being in expositions elsewhere, are listed in approximately chronological order, with links to their current locations when known:

1867
Exposition Universelle, Paris, France
The carillon built by Bollée of LeMans for St.Joseph's Cathedral, Buffalo, NY (see below) was exhibited here before export to the USA.

1924
British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, England
The traditional carillon built by Gillett & Johnston for Simcoe, ON was exhibited here before export to Canada.

1933-34
World's Fair, Chicago, IL
A Michiels carillon which was displayed here became the foundation for the present traditional carillon of Norwich University, Northfield, VT.

1939-40
World's Fair, New York, NY
A Michiels carillon which was in the Belgian Pavilion is now in Stanford University, near Palo Alto, CA.
A vanBergen carillon which was in the Dutch Pavilion is now in Greenwood, SC.
A smaller vanBergen carillon, which was the "Garden Carillon" in the Dutch Pavilion, is now in New Brunswick, NJ.

1939-41
Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, CA
A Gillett & Johnston carillon which hung in the Tower of the Sun is now in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA

1950 (summer)
U.S.International Trade Fair, Chicago, IL
A 37-bell traditional carillon by Petit & Fritsen was displayed at this fair, and was played by several GCNA members.  Later it was displayed at the "Foire Provinciale" (presumably a fair in the province of Quebec) and was played by another GCNA member.  Before the end of the year, this carillon was reported to be in Quebec City, but it is not there now, and its actual disposition is unknown.

1951 (May 28 - June 8)
Fourth Canadian International Trade Fair, Toronto, ON
A 37-bell traditional carillon by Van Bergen was displayed here, and later installed temporarily at Lander College, Greenwood, SC.  Financing for the hoped-for sale was not found, and the carillon was removed.  In spite of various rumors, its actual disposition is unknown, and there is not yet an entry for it in the database.

1952 (Oct-Nov)
International Trade Fair, Mexico City, Mexico
A 35-bell traditional carillon by Van Bergen was displayed in the Netherlands Pavilion of this fair prior to being installed at what was then McMurry College in Abilene, Texas, USA, where it remains.

1958-59
World's Fair, Brussels, Belgium
A Petit & Fritsen carillon which hung in the Vatican Pavilion is now in Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH

1964-65
World's Fair, New York, NY
A light 25-bell traditional carillon by Eijsbouts hung in a small tower in the Belgian Pavilion (pictured on an Official Postcard by Dexter Press, West Nyack, NY).  The late James R. Lawson is known to have played this carillon on occasion. All but one of its bells were stolen out of the frame during the night after the Fair closed, presumably for their scrap metal value.  On a Website about that Fair there are two paragraphs of history of this instrument buried amongst that of the electronic devices which were being heavily publicized.

1967
World's Fair, Montreal, QU
The Eijsbouts foundry. displayed a 28-bell carillon, the disposition of which is unknown.

Chimes known to have been part of various North American exhibitions or expositions are listed in approximately chronological order, with links to their current locations when known:

1850
Mechanics Fair, Boston, MA
Henry N. Hooper displayed an 11-bell chime at this fair, taking a silver medal for it and claiming that this was the second American-made chime.  (That claim remains unverified.) Its disposition is unknown.

1850
American Institute Fair, New York, NY
A 9-bell chime by Meneely of West Troy was displayed at this fair and won a gold medal, claiming (incorrectly) to be the first completely American-made chime.

1850-51
Mechanics Institute, Cincinnati, OH
In mid-1850, over a period of several months, George L. Hanks cast a heavy 11-bell chime with the assistance (or guidance) of Francis Mayer, who later worked as a bellfounder in St.Louis, MO.  Hanks exhibited the bells at the Mechanics Institute in the fall of 1850, and advertised them as a chime playable from a keyboard, but no record has been found of their installation as a chime elsewhere.  Since each bell was individually mounted for swinging, they were probably sold separately after being exhibited.

1851
New York State Fairgrounds, Rochester, NY
At the 1851 New York State Fair, the Meneely/Wvlt bellfoundry displayed (and played) a set of nine individually mounted bells which effectively made a chime.  Without any evidence of a subsequent reinstallation of the entire set, the bells are presumed to have been dispersed.

1871
Cincinnati Exposition, Cincinnati, OH
A 15-bell chime, with total weight of 7290 lbs., was exhibited here by Vanduzen.  Its disposition afterwards is unknown.

1872
Cincinnati Exposition, Cincinnati, OH
A 9-bell chime, with total weight of 5744 lbs., was exhibited here by Vanduzen.  Its disposition afterwards is unknown.

1876
Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, PA
A 13-bell McShane chime which was exhibited in the Machinery Hall is now in Garden City, New York.

1884
World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, LA
McShane reported making a 15-bell chime for exhibition here, and later reported making a 10-bell chime for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Saint John, New Brunswick.  But the Cathedral has documentation that its 10 bells were made for the Exposition.  The other five bells are presumed to have been dispersed.

1893
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, IL
A 10-bell chime was exhibited by Vanduzen.  Both Nashua, NH and Oakland, CA have claimed to have this chime now, but additional research has shown that Nashua's claim is correct.  See the following paragraph for the actual origin of Oakland's bells.

1894, Jan-Jul
California Midwinter International Exposition (Midwinter Fair), San Francisco, CA
A 10-bell chime was installed by Vanduzen in the southwest tower of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building.  Reportedly it was modelled on that which Vanduzen had made for the Chicago exposition (see above).  It was played two or three times each day by Professor W. H. Holt, organist of St.John's Church, although at least once the breakage of transmission wires prevented its being heard.  After the fair, the chime was bought by David Hewes, who intended to donate it as part of a clock tower to be built at Stanford University as a memorial to his second wife, who had been a sister of Mrs. Leland Stanford.  That clock tower was never built, possibly because agreement on its location could not be reached.  It is believed that these bells were eventually purchased in 1902 for Mills College, and were installed there in 1904.

1895
Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, GA
A 13-bell chime in the key of D was provided by Vanduzen.  It was played daily from mid-September through December, 1895, and was then returned to the foundry; its subsequent disposition is unknown, though it does not appear to have been reinstalled as a chime elsewhere.

1905
Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland, OR
An 11-bell chime was exhibited at this fair by Vanduzen.  The disposition of the bells is not known, but it is suspected that they might now be at Los Angeles, CA (Hollywood Park Cemetery) or Scottdale, PA or Quincy, IL.

RELOCATIONS:

Carillons which have been moved from their original city of installation to another place are listed in order by city name, with links to their current locations when known:

Bloomington, IN
The 61-bell Metz Carillon, installed in a freestanding concrete tower on the fringe of the Indiana University campus in 1971, was relocated to a new tower in the center of the campus in 2019, and in the process was enlarged to 65 bells.

Boston, MA
The bookstore of Whittemore Associates had a light 25-bell carillon by Petit & Fritsen on its façade from 1951 until 1965, when the company and the carillon moved to Needham Heights (see below).

Dodge City, KS
The bells of the little automatic carillon installed in the College of St.Mary of the Plains in 1953 were sold to North Hennepin Junior College, Minneapolis, MN in 1994.

Kalamazoo, MI
A 47-bell electric-action carillon was installed in the Episcopal Cathedral of Christ the King in 1969; installation of a traditional keyboard was anticipated but never occurred.  When the cathedral was deconsecrated and sold in 2007, the bells were sold as a unit.  Eventually they became a new traditional carillon at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Lawrence, MA
First-Calvary Baptist Church was located here when they bought a light carillon from Whittemore Associates in Needham Heights (see below), but they have since moved to North Andover, MA.

John P. Hall Estate, Mechanicsburg, PA
Mr. Hall at one time owned four carillons, all made by Petit & Fritsen in 1980-82.  In 1992, they were all sold, as follows:
The 4-octave tower carillon was sold to Berea College, Berea, KY, where it eventually became part of the present traditional carillon.
The 3-octave traveling carillon was sold to an anonymous investor, and is now based in Pennsylvania, where it is part of the musical group "Cast in Bronze".
The second 3-octave carillon, never installed on the Hall estate, was sold to the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (UPPR), where it is played only automatically.
The light 2-octave carillon likewise never installed on the Hall estate, was sold in three parts:
  • The heaviest 11 bells went to Belmont University, Nashville, TN, where they were used to extend that instrument's treble range.
  • The middle 7 bells went to the Deeds Carillon, Dayton, OH, where they were used to extend that instrument's treble range.
  • The lightest 5 bells went to Berea College (see above), to increase the range of that instrument.

Ward-Belmont School, Nashville, TN
A 23-bell carillon was installed at this school by Gillett & Johnston in 1928.  In 1952 this instrument was sold to Schulmerich Carillons, Inc., Sellersville, PA, where it remained until the demise of that company in 2012.  The bells have now been recycled into a mobile non-traditional carillon owned by the Virginia Arts Festival.
Ward-Belmont School was eventually succeeded by Belmont College, which acquired a new carillon in 1986, and later became Belmont University.

Needham Heights, MA
When Whittemore Associates moved here in 1965, they brought with them the light carillon which had been on the façade of their Boston building since 1951 (see above).  Sometime in the 1970s (when?), the company sold the carillon to First-Calvary Baptist Church, which was at that time in Lawrence, MA (see above).

Trinity Evangelical & Reformed Church, Philadelphia, PA
This church moved to Holland, PA in 1968 and brought its carillon along.  It is now Trinity Reformed Church, UCC.

St.Barnabas Roman Catholic Church, Philadelphia, PA
The 25-bell automatic carillon of this church was sold to Frank DellaPenna in 2009, and the bells were incorporated into his new traveling carillon.

St.Michael's & Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, PA
Some of the bells of this two-octave carillon, cast in 1930 by Franz Schilling Sons of Apolda, Germany, were lost before the church closed about 1973.  The remaining bells are now part of the automatic carillon at The Lutheran Home of Germantown.

San Fernando and Santa Monica, CA
The three octave traditional carillon of Saint Monica's RC Church in Santa Monica was dismantled in 1971 because of fears for the tower's stability in earthquakes.  The bells were later transferred to Mission San Fernando, where they were played only automatically.  In 2002 they were moved again, to the newly-built Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.

Sellersville, PA
See Ward-Belmont School, Nashville, TN, above.

West Potomac Park, Washington, DC
The Netherlands Carillon was located in a temporary wooden tower here from 1954 until it was installed in a permanent tower in Arlington, VA in 1960.

(mobile)
The Pepsi Carillon, a traveling carillon built in 1967-70 with bells by Petit & Fritsen, was disassembled in 1982.  The frame and keyboard went to the Hall Estate (see above), acquiring a new set of bells to form a new instrument; the original bells went to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Louisville, KY.

Chimes which have been moved from their original city of installation to another place are listed in order by city name, with links to their current locations when known:

Curran Memorial, Baltimore, MD
A 16-bell automatic chime was installed in 1979 by P&F, as part of the York Road Development Project.  Two lightning strikes silenced the mechanism, and it sat idle for several years.  In 2007, 12 of the 16 bells found a new home several blocks away.  The disposition of the other four is unknown.

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Bridgeport, CT
The Jones foundry installed a light 10-bell chime here in 1860.  In 1953 the property was sold to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America; the bells were removed, and were installed two years later at St.Mark's Episcopal Chapel, Storrs, CT.

St.Mary's Church, Buffalo, NY
In 1882, McShane installed a chime of unknown size here.  The exact name and location of this church are uncertain, but it may have been St.Mary of Sorrows, also known as the Church of the Seven Dolors, Genesee and Rich Streets; that is now the M.L.King Urban Life Center.  In 1982, eight bells from that chime were installed in a park in Warren, PA.

Verdin Company, Cincinnati, OH
The Verdin Company installed a lightweight automatic chime with 14 bells from Petit & Fritsen on the south wall of Pendleton House in 1992.  By 2001 this chime had been sold; the bells became part of the Over-the-Rhine Bell Tower a block to the east.+  (The bells were replaced with shells, which may deceive the eye of the casual passerby.)

Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, NY
This amusement park (which opened in 1897) contained a Chimes Tower holding 10 bells by Meneely/Troy; it was played hourly from a chimestand in a cabin far below the open belfry.  The bells survived a fire which destroyed most of the park in 1907, and in 1909 they were transferred to Our Lady of Solace Catholic Church, Brooklyn, NY (see below).

River Ridge Farm, Franklin, PA
An 11-bell chime was made by Meneely/Troy in 1914 and installed in a freestanding tower on the estate of J.C.Sibley.  In 1948, the farm was sold to the White Fathers, who in 1967 sold the bells to the newly-built Church of Our Lady of Anjou in Montreal, Canada.

Trinity Temple United Methodist Church, Louisville, KY
A 12-bell chime was made by Vanduzen for Trinity Methodist Church, presumably for the building erected in 1900, where it hung in an open belfry atop a large central cupola.  In 1962, the church razed that building and constructed in its place a high-rise apartment building, with worship space at the ground level and the chime on the rooftop.  The bells were sold to Bob Brosamer In the summer of 2001, when the church was closed and the building which housed it was sold.  Presumably, these bells have been dispersed.

St.James Episcopal Church, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
A 9-bell chime was installed here by Jones in 1871.  In 2015, after it was decided to close this church, the bells were sold to Verdin, who installed them the following year at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.

St.George's Catholic Church (Lith.), Shenandoah, PA
A 10-bell chime was installed here by McShane in 1907.  After many years of disuse, the bells were removed from the tower to diocesan storage by 2010, and the building was demolished.  Eventually the bells were bought back by McShane/Baltimore, and promptly resold (along with four new bells) to St.John Vianney Catholic Church, Houston, Texas.

Plymouth Congregational Church, Worcester, MA
A 10-bell chime was installed here by Meneely/Troy in 1881.  In 1936 this became Plymouth-Piedmont Congregational Church.  In 1941 that building was razed.  It is not known when the bells were sold nor where they were stored, but in 1952 they were installed in St.Ann's Catholic Church, Cleveland Heights, OH.

DEFUNCT:

Carillons which no longer exist are listed in order by city name:

St.Joseph's Cathedral (RC), Buffalo, NY
A carillon of 45 bells was purchased from Bollée in 1870, and installed in the recently-built south tower of St.Joseph's Catholic Cathedral.  But structural problems soon caused removal of most of its bells to storage.  When the "new" cathedral was built in 1912, 43 bells were installed in one of the twin towers, though not all of them were connected to the keyboard.  Structural problems again caused removal to storage in 1922 (or 1927), from which most were stolen in the course of the mid-to-late 20th century.  The largest of the survivors was eventually donated to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, and seven more bells were donated by someone else.  In 2020, these 8 bells were installed in a new tower there.

University Lutheran Church and Student Center, Champaign, IL
A lightweight 25-bell traditional carillon by Petit & Fritsen was installed in 1953 in the triangular Trinity Tower.  In 2008, the pastor sold the bells to Chime Master, who dispersed some of them.  The bell frame, transmission and baton keyboard were junked.

Cathedral and Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, MI
A 35-bell Petit & Fritsen carillon was installed here in 1951.  Some years later, after the church purchased an electronic imitation, the bells were offered for sale by the manufacturer of that device.  The final disposition of the bells is unknown.

Borough of Folcroft, PA
A 25-bell Petit & Fritsen carillon, probably lightweight and automatic, was installed in 1994.  In 2002, Verdin bought the bells back.  Their eventual destination is unknown.

vanBergen Bellfoundry, Greenwood, SC
A 32-bell carillon was installed on the foundry building in 1960.  By 1970, 18 bells had been sold as a chime to a church in Lawrenceville, GA; the rest are presumed to have been sold individually or in small groups.

Atlantic United Methodist Church, North Quincy, MA
In 1959, Vanbergen installed a lightweight carillon of 25 bells here.  In the early 1980s, 12 of the bells were sold to Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT to expand that traditional carillon.
The disposition of the remaining 13 bells is unknown.

Del Amo Fashion Center & Square, Torrance, CA
A 31-bell non-traditional carillon installed by Petit & Fritsen in 1982 was removed by 2003.  The disposition of these bells is unknown.

James F. Neumann residence, Yoakum, TX
A very light 25-bell automatic carillon was installed in 2000 by Meeks, Watson & Co., using bells that had been removed from Elsah, IL.  When the owner was forced to move elsewhere, about two years later, he sold the bells and freestanding tower back to MW&Co.  Some of the larger bells were dispersed, while the remainder were placed in storage with the tower.

Chime-sized instruments and rings which no longer exist are listed in order by city name (except for the firs two, which have no associated city):

(location unknown), USA
Advertising material from the Blake foundry claims that they cast the first American-made chime in 1825.  Given the known history of the foundry, it seems more likely that this is a typographic error for 1852.  (But see Mechanics Fair, Boston, above.)  It has also been suggested that this was a recasting of a foreign-made ring or chime.  In any event, the actual location of this chime has not been found and its disposition is unknown.

Floating Palace circus showboat, Ohio River, USA
In 1856, a 14-bell chime from the Buckeye Bell Foundry was located on the roof of this, the first circus showboat ever built.  It was used to herald the approach of the boat until the invention of the steam calliope led to its replacement.  The date of manufacture of this lightweight chime (total only 2850 lbs) is uncertain, but it is known that this boat was built in Cincinnati in 1852 and operated initially on the Ohio River.  It later operated on the Mississippi River and at ports along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Christ Church, Baldwinsville, NY
A 9-bell chime by Jones was installed in 1870.  In the late 20th c., it was dismantled and the bells were given away singly to other churches.

Christ Church (Episcopal), Baltimore, MD
A ring of six bells was cast in 1804 by Thomas Mears of London (Whitechapel), and was installed in the first Christ Church (at Baltimore and Front Streets) in 1805.  During the War of 1812, the bells were removed to be hidden from the British.  After the war, only three of them could be found; they were rehung in the same building.  Thus that six-bell ring lasted for less than ten years.

In 1835/6, Christ Church moved with its bells to its second building (location unknown).  In 1871, the congregation moved to its third building (the present location), taking at least one of the Mears bells with them; possibly one was left behind in the second building, which was then renamed Church of the Messiah.

In 1904, the Church of the Messiah was destroyed by fire, but some metal was recovered from the bell which hung there at the time; it is not clear whether this was one of the original Mears bells.

In 1908, Christ Church bought a chime of 13 bells from the McShane Bell Foundry; at that time at least one Mears bell was returned to the (now rebuilt) Church of the Messiah.

In 1920 the Messiah congregation moved to its present location on Harford Road, and in 1922 McShane cast for them a new bell made from (a) the metal of a Mears bell returned in 1908, (b) another bell which had hung in St.Andrew's Chapel, Harford Road, Hamilton, and (c) the bell metal recovered from the fire of 1904.  The inscription on that bell records part of the history given above.

It is not clear what happened to the other two Mears bells which had been recovered after the War of 1812, though perhaps one passed through the 1904 fire.

This ring does not have a separate entry in the database, since it had fewer than 8 bells; the later chime does (see above).

Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baltimore, MD
An 11-bell chime installed by McShane in 1925 was sold back to the McShane company when the church was closed in 1996.  The McShane 'Chimes' catalog of 1928 included a page which depicts the building and describes the bells (all with inscriptions listed).  Without evidence of relocation, the bells are assumed to have been dispersed.

Ivie Memorial Chapel of the Messiah, Bethlehem, NH
In 1930, Meneely/Troy installed 10 bells in this memorial to 27-year-old Florence Abbott Ivie, daughter of Alvine Ivie.  Its early usage is unknown, but by the late 20th century the building had no regular congregation, and Episcopal services were held there only in the summer.  It was closed in 2007, and the bells were bought by Chime Master Systems.  Although they were offered for sale as a set, no buyer was found, and the bells were eventually sold off individually - the last in late 2011.

First Congregational Church, Braintree, MA
Meneely/Troy installed 10 bells here in 1925.  In 1996, the church tower was taken down and the bells were sold.  Their destination is unknown. 

Trinity Church (Anglican), Brockville, ON
In 1925, Taylor installed here a baton-keyboard chime of 11 bells.  About 2006, the church was declared redundant; by 2009 the property (including the bells) had been put up for sale.  While the building was vacant, some bells were stolen, and some that were too large to steal whole were cut up in the tower.  Seven surviving bells were eventually acquired by The Keltek Trust of England, from which they have been dispersed as parts of various projects to upgrade or install rings of bells around the world.  For example, two bells became the 6th and 7th of the restored and expanded ring at St.Brynach, Nevern, Dyfed, Wales.  See the Keltek Trust Website for further details.

Our Lady of Solace Catholic Church, Brooklyn, NY
In 1909, Meneely/Troy installed here the 10 bells which had previously been in Steeplechase Park, Coney Island (see above); they were sold to Verdin in the mid-1990s.  Without evidence of relocation, the bells are assumed to have been dispersed.

St.Philip's Episcopal Church, Charleston, SC
Francis Mayer cast 11 bells for this church in 1848, using the foundry of Mr.Dyer of Philadelphia.  The bells were installed here in 1849-50, along with a tune-playing tower clock, by Francis Stein of this city.  They were seized by the Confederate Army in 1862 to be recast into cannon.

The First Church in Charlestown (UCC), Charlestown (Boston), MA
The foundry of Henry N. Hooper & Co. of Boston made a chime of 16 bells for this church in 1868; they were given by the granddaughter of one of the settlers who founded Charlestown.  It was destroyed by fire in 1957.

St.Paul's Episcopal Church, Elkins Park, Cheltenham Township, MD
A 10-bell chime was installed by McShane in 1883.  In 1900, the town of Elkins Park was formed from Cheltenham Township; the church is within its boundaries.  The chime was sold in the 1960s; the buyer is unknown.

Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago, IL
A 17-bell chime by Jones was installed in 1870 in a tall-spired tower on the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and 23rd Street.  Between 1880 and 1883 the church changed its named to Immanuel Baptist; it continued to exist at least into the 1920s.  When it closed has not yet been discovered, but the building no longer exists.  The fate of the chime is unknown, but it can reasonably be assumed to have been scrapped.

U.S. Playing Card Company, Cincinnati, OH
Meneely/Troy installed 12 bells in 1924, and bought them back some years later.  Without evidence of relocation, the bells are assumed to have been dispersed.

Methodist Episcopal Church, Clinton, IA
Vanduzen was reported, by a usually reliable source, to have cast 9 bells for the M.E.Church of Clinton, IN; but the associated Zipcode was for Clinton, IL.  Visits to the Methodist churches of Clinton, IN, and Clinton, IL, proved that neither of those buildings could ever have held such a chime.  Discovery of a Vanduzen catalog from 1922 revealed that the destination had actually been Clinton, IA, and the total weight of the bells was 6067 lbs., but no date was given.  The First Methodist Church of Clinton, IA, erected its present building in 1903, and originally it had a round corner tower with belfry that might have held these bells.  (Or it might have held only the single bell which the church had in its previous building.)  The belfry was removed from that tower in the 1920s because of continued problems with leakage, and present church members have no knowledge of what it might have held.  The bells are presumed to have been scrapped.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Cleveland, OH
Meneely/Watervliet cast 9 bells for this church in 1854; the building was dedicated on Ascension Day, 1855.  As late as 1890, this was still the only chime in that city.  When the church was replaced by the new Trinity Cathedral c.1901-07, only one of the old bells was installed in the new tower; it is still rung by rope.  It is thought that the remaining bells of the chime may have been dispersed to mission churches.

St.Bernard's Church, Cohoes, NY
A 9-bell chime by Jones was installed in 1871.  The spire of the 200' tower fell in a severe storm on 15 Feb. 1876, damaging the roof of the church and blocking adjacent railroad tracks.  However, at least some of the bells survived and were disposed of singly to churches at unknown locations in South Carolina.

Bell Wagon Cafe, Coinjock, NC
A collection of 11 assorted steel bells (origin unknown) sat in an old farm wagon outside this cafe for years.  After the cafe closed in 1996, the bell wagon was traded back to the antiques dealer from which it had been obtained, and sat in front of his shop until he died, a decade or so later.  It is not known what happened to the bells in the estate sale that followed.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Connellsville, PA
Meneely/Watervliet made a 12-bell chime (in concert pitch) for this church in 1911.  Some time between 1946 and 1957, it was replaced by an electronic device; the fate of the bells is not known.

Calvary Episcopal Church, Conshohocken, PA
A 14-bell chime by Meneely/Watervliet was installed here in 1929, and two Paccard bells were added to it in 1945.  In 2021, the church sold the bells to McShane, who will disperse them.

St.George's Episcopal Church, Dorchester, SC
A bell from Rudhall of England was installed in 1751; later this was augmented to a ring of 4.  Some years after the Revolutionary War, the church was disbanded and the bells were dispersed to other churches in South Carolina.  This site is not in the database, since it had fewer than 8 bells.

First United Methodist Church, Duluth, MN
Meneely/Troy made a 10-bell chime for this church in 1921.  When the church moved out of downtown in the 1960s, the bells were sold, but the purchaser is not known.

First Presbyterian Church, Dunkirk, NY
An 11-bell chime by Meneely/Troy was installed in 1902, incorporating a bell which had been delivered in 1882.  Weakness of the tower led to its being shortened in 1961; the bells were sold, but the purchaser is not known.

Trinity Church, Edgerton, OH
Meneely/Watervliet reportedly made a 9-bell chime for this place, but details of date and weight were not given.  A search of the town in 2009 found no trace of the chime nor of any building which might have held it.  Thus the veracity of the original report is now questionable.

Catholic Trinity Church, Evansville, IN
A 9-bell chime by Jones was installed in 1873, and destroyed by fire in the 1950s.

Notre Dame Catholic Church, Fall River, MA
A chime of 15 bells was destroyed by fire in the early 1980s.  The bells had been obtained from France in 1924, and are thought to have been cast by Cornille-Havard.  Some of them swung.

Pratt Mausoleum, Glen Cove, NY
A 9-bell chime by Meneely/Troy was installed in 1893; the bells apparently disappeared during World War II.

Furman University, Greenville, SC
A chime of 10 bells, installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1901, was located in a campanile attached to Main Hall on the old university campus in downtown Greenville.  After the University moved to its present site, the campanile was demolished (with the rest of the old campus); the disposition of the bells is unknown.  The tower which now houses the carillon at the University was designed to be essentially identical to the old chime tower.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Hagerstown, MD
A chime of 9 or 10 bells, installed by Jones in 1870 or 1871, was traded in on a 16-tube Deagan tower chime in 1924; the final disposition of those bells is unknown, but the Deagan chime survives.

St.Mary's Catholic Church, Hollidaysburg, PA
A 9-bell chime of unknown make and vintage was sold to the Verdin Company, date and ultimate destination unknown.

Orthodox Church, Honolulu, HI
A 9-bell chime was shipped by Meneely/Troy in 1887.  A note in the foundry records states that it was destroyed by fire.  No date is given, but presumably it was some time before the foundry closed in 1950.  Efforts to determine exactly where the church was located and when it was destroyed have been unsuccessful.

St.Paul's Lutheran Church, Indianapolis, IN
A 15-bell chime by Vanduzen was installed in 1900.  When the church moved to the suburbs in 1995, the old building was demolished and the heaviest 14 bells were sold to Bob Brosamer.  The treble remains at the new church.

St.Paul's Catholic Church, Jersey City, NJ
An 18-bell chime in concert pitch was supplied by Henry Stuckstede in 1887.  The C,E,G basses swung.  The bells were bought by the I.T.Verdin Co. no later than mid-1994 and dispersed.

St.Cecilia's Catholic Church, Kearny, NJ
An 11-bell chime was installed by McShane in 1928; it was sold in 1994.  The buyer (a company in Pennsylvania) is unknown.

St.Joseph's Catholic Church, Lewiston, ME
An 12-bell chime was installed here by Meneely/Watervliet in an unknown year.  The church closed in 2009, and the bells were eventually sold to an unknown buyer.

Christ Church (Episcopal), Little Rock, AR
An 11-bell chime installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1903 was destroyed by fire in 1938.

Bible Institute, Los Angeles, CA (now Biola University, La Mirada, CA)
In October 1915, Meneely/Troy installed an 11-bell chime atop the Bible Institute building in downtown Los Angeles.  Some time in the 1960s, it was taken down and put in storage.  In 1986, five of the bells were installed in an open clock tower on the new campus, with Westminster quarters struck electrically; the university has a 33-minute video of the dedication of the bell tower.  The disposition of the other 6 bells is unknown.  The bells are pictured on a page about donating to the university.  An interactive campus map shows exactly where the bell tower is located.  A page about the top 25 stories of the past 25 years includes (at No.9) a paragraph about the bells and a small photo of the complete tower.

First Presbyterian Church, Muncie, IN
A 15-bell chime by McShane was cast in 1925 and installed in 1926.  The McShane 'Chimes' catalog of 1928 included a page which depicts the building and describes the bells (with the inscription on the tenor).  The bells were sold or scrapped when the congregation moved to the present building in 1955.

Home Suburban School, New Haven, CT
A light-weight chime of 9 bells from Jones was installed in 1860 for Rev. Alonzo G. Shears, who was the owner and rector of this school from its beginning in 1853 and assistant at St.Thomas Episcopal Church from 1855 to 1874.  It is known that the school was located on Dixwell Avenue until 1870, but no evidence of the later existence of its buildings has been found, so it is assumed that the chime was eventually scrapped.

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, New Orleans, LA
A 13-bell electric-action chime from Petit & Fritsen was installed by Verdin in 1953 to replace a 16-note Deagan tubular chime from 1926.  The bells were later removed (though the frame remains on the ceiling of the open belfry), and the disposition of the bells is unknown.

Holy Trinity Cathedral, New Westminster, BC
A ring of 8 bells from Whitechapel was installed in 1861.  All but the third (as counted by ringers) were destroyed by fire in 1898.

St.John's Catholic Church, New York, NY
A 10-bell chime was installed in this Bohemian Catholic church by Meneely/Troy in December, 1904.  On Dec.31 (New Year's Eve), Chester Meneely played a concert on these bells.  They were removed by the same firm in June, 1939, but their disposition is unknown.

F. Picart & Co., New York, NY
A set of 8 small bells (probably a diatonic octave) was shipped to this firm in 1918.  It might be speculated that it was intended to be hung on a storefront.  However, this address was shared by the offices of dozens of steamship lines as well as related companies, so it was probably a very large building.  (It is now long gone.)  Furthermore, no trace of a person or company by that name can be found in city directories or newspapers of the day.  The entry in the McShane records is therefore a mystery, and it is presumed that these bells no longer exist.

St.James Catholic Church, Newark, NJ
A 9-bell chime of unknown origin and date is thought to have been in what was the largest Newark church built prior to the Civil War (1854) and the tallest spire in the city.  (A local religion page has an old picture of the building, but does not mention the bells.)  The building was sold and demolished in 1979, but the disposition of the bells is unknown.

Niagara University (formerly DeVeaux School), Niagara Falls, NY
A 10-bell chime installed by Meneely/Troy in 1913 was sold to Verdin in November 1994.  Without evidence of relocation, the bells are assumed to have been dispersed.

Bird Colladay Van Leer Memorial Tower, Normal, IL
A 10-bell chime installed by Meneely/Troy in 1940 was removed from the tower about 1971 because its substructure was failing.  The bells were traded to Verdin for an electronic device, which was thrice destroyed by lightning.  The original chimestand may remain in the tower.

Cooper, Bailey & Co.'s Circus, Philadelphia, PA
A lightweight 16-bell chime was bought from Vanduzen & Tift in 1880 for $600; the purchase included "ringing levers, wire, etc.", so obviously the bells were intended to play music by hand.  The following year, this circus merged with P.T.Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" to become Barnum & Bailey, the most successful enterprise of its kind in the U.S.  Presumably the bells were eventually scrapped or sold.

Ebenezer P. Percival, Philadelphia, PA
A very lightweight octave of bells (bass bell 240 pounds) was ordered from McShane in September 1887.  They were installed on Mr.Percival's jewelry shop on North 8th Street, presumably with an E.Howard tower clock (model #0 d S) which was ordered in the same year.  Bells and clock may have remained there for as long as he owned that building, but their eventual disposition is unknown.

St.Simeon's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA
A heavy 14-bell chime installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1903 was apparently sold at some point during the decline of this congregation.  The building in which it was installed is still standing, but it was sold to a different denomination in 2010, and the belfry is now empty.  (Bing maps birds-eye view from the north)

St.Stephen's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA
A 9-bell chime installed by Jones in 1853 was traded in for an electronic device many years ago.

Highland Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA
An 11-bell chime was installed by McShane in 1920.  The McShane 'Chimes' catalog of 1928 included a page which depicts the building and describes the bells (all with inscriptions listed).  The chime was sold to Verdin in the early 1980s, possibly when the congregation merged with another in the neighborhood.  The bells have been dispersed; it is uncertain whether the building still stands.

Pennsylvania State Fair, Pittsburgh, PA
A 12-bell chime was cast by Andrew Fulton of this city for display at the Pennsylvania State Fair of 1858, according to a newspaper clipping of the day.  In the absence of any evidence of the chime being installed anywhere else after the fair, the bells are assumed to have been dispersed.  So far as can be determined, this is the only chime that the Fulton foundry ever made.

First Methodist Church, Plattsburgh, NY
An 11-bell chime installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1924 was destroyed by fire in 1957.

St.Lawrence Congregational Church, Portland, ME
An 11-bell chime was cast in 1896 by McShane and installed here in 1897.  The St.Lawrence congregation was dissolved in 1985, and ownership of the building was transferred to a foundation (name not known).  The building having become decrepit, the McShane chime was removed and sold in 1998; the purchaser and ultimate destination are unknown.

Union Congregational Church, Portland, ME
A 9-bell chime cast in 1896 by Meneely/Watervliet was destroyed by fire in 1862.

Holy Communion Episcopal Church, Saint Louis, MO
An 11-bell chime was installed by McShane in 1921 in the building previously occupied by this congregation in the city.  When the congregation moved to the suburbs before World War II, the bells were taken along.  But then they stood on the ground behind the present building because the tower base was deemed to be too weak to hold them.  They were later sold; the buyer and date of sale are unknown.

University of Washington, Seattle, WA
A 12-bell chime named the "Blethen Bells" was installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1912.  Located in a converted water tower, it was played regularly until its destruction by fire in 1949.  A University Webpage records the history and includes old photographs of the bells and tower.

Grace Methodist Church, Sioux City, IA
An 11-bell chime installed by Meneely/Watervliet in 1908 was destroyed by fire on 31 Feb 1957.

Chime Master Systems, Inc., Sugar Grove, OH
A lightweight chime of 18 bells by Eijsbouts was installed here in 2006.  In 2008 it was dismantled, and the frame was sold; the disposition of the bells is unknown.

Winslow Congregational Church (now Baptist Church of All Nations), Taunton, MA
A 10-bell chime installed by Meneely/Troy in 1903 was removed in 1998; the bells were sold to Todd Lower, who presumably dispersed them.

Trinity Episcopal Church, The Woodlands, TX
A ring of 8 bells by Whitechapel, which originally hung in the church of St.Michael & All Angels, Blackburn, Lancashire, England, was installed here as a chime in 1984.  When the congregation moved to a larger facility in the same town, the bells and prefabricated tower were taken along, but not re-erected.  In 2005, the tower was sold to another church and the bells were sold to Verdin, who resold them piecemeal.

Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, Washington, DC
An 11-bell chime was installed by Jones in 1871.  It soon played Mendelssohn's Wedding March for the wedding of President Grover Cleveland.  At some point it was dismantled and put in storage.  Eventually the church decided not to build a new tower for the bells; in 1998 they were sold to Verdin, who dispersed them.

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, West Chester, PA
A 10-bell chime installed by McShane in 1890 was removed in the early 1980s when the tower was taken down because of structural weakness.  The bells were dispersed, one remaining at the church.

NOTE:  Formerly, some defunct sites had database identification listed here because there were other sies in their respective cities in the database which supports this Website.  That is no longer necessary, since site data pages were provided for all defunct installations in July 2025; those are linked from the various institution names in the paragraphs above.

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This page was created on 1997/06/15 and last revised on 2025/08/07.

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