St. John's Episcopal Church

On September 11, 1870,"...[Peter] McGoldrick of Albany played a concert of 15 tunes beginning with Changes on Eight Bells and including Old Hundred, Hail Columbia, Blue Bells of Scotland, Yankee Doodle, Last Rose of Summer, and ending with Home Sweet Home." This was the first playing of the newly installed Meneely of West Troy (what we now know as Watervliet) chime of 11 bells in the tower of St. John's Episcopal Church.

"Chime" is the official description of a set of bells such as graces St. John's bell tower. The term chime usually describes a set of eight or more bells; ten bell sets were very popular, with the full octave, one note above and a "flat seventh" tone. On occasion the "sharp fourth tone" (the eleventh bell) was added, and so forth.

Not much is known about that first chime, except that problems developed over time. In 1910-11, the bells were recast, this time by the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, headed by Clinton H. Meneely. As each bell had been the gift of a different individual or group, the "new" bells bore the same inscriptions as did the bells in the original chime: 1. Judge Mann; 2. Miss Sarah B. Tibbits; 3. Sunday School; 4. Elizabeth Jermain, Isabel, and Walter Cox in memory of their brothers and sisters; 5. William A. Thompson in memory of Clarkson Crosby Thompson; 6. Norman B. Squires in memory of Mary W., Norman H., and Jeanie S. Squires; 7. Marie Kate Young and Jennie M. Sims; 8. Julia Louise Babcock; 9. Fannie Southwick Tillinghast; 10. Alice Griffith Tillinghast; and 11. Infant Class of 1870.*

As with the original chime, the second and present installation contains 11 bells. They are in the musical key of D major: the tenor -- the largest and lowest-pitched bell -- is D, followed by E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D, and E. In addition, there are "flat seventh tone" (C natural) and "sharp fourth tone" (G#) bells, which enable tunes in different keys to be played.

To give you some idea of the size of these bells, which reside some 50 ft. or so above street level, the largest bell probably weighs in the neighborhood of 3,500 lbs -- as much as a mid-size car -- and has a diameter of almost 5 ft. The smallest bell is probably closer to 350 lbs, about what two adult men would weigh, and is a bit under 2 ft. in diameter. Ten of the bells are mounted in a square arrangement, bolted to a massive wood timber frame. The tenor bell looms above those others in its own mount.

The chime is played from a large wooden keyboard, known as a chimestand. The chimestand holds 11 "keys" shaped like long, wooden pump handles. Pressing down one of these pump handles activates a virtual "Rube Goldberg" mechanism of leather belts, 25 ft.-long wooden rods, chains, pulleys, massive counterweights and, finally, lengths of wire that ultimately attach to large hammers, with heads of a bronze alloy slightly softer than that of the bells. These hammers are mounted in such a way as to strike the inside of the bell near the lower rim; a large coil spring quickly pulls the hammer back away from the bell so as not to dull the tone. As one might imagine, all this "mechanical action" makes a fair bit of noise inside the tower. Fortunately, only the sound of the bells projects beyond the tower.

In addition to the hammers controlled by the chimestand, a tolling hammer -- its flatter, harder head striking the outside of the tenor bell -- is controlled by a rope that hangs to the left of the chimestand.

There is yet a third way to ring the tenor bell. Meneely specifications called for a 7/8" diameter rope to swing bells of over 2,500 lbs. And such a rope hangs down in the northeast corner of the tower. Yes, this 3,500 lb. bell is mounted in such a way as to swing, with a clapper inside to ring the bell as it moves through a sweep of not quite a full circle. Special stops prevent the bell from swinging completely over in either direction.

The tenor bell must be swung quickly in order to allow the clapper to make a solid ring. This requires no small effort to actually ring the bell while swinging it. As young "apprentice chimers," Henry Stewart, my sister Trina, and I would take turns ringing the bell by grabbing the rope, climbing approximately half-way up the steep stairs to the second level of the tower, and jumping off. With luck, the weight of one or more of us kids, combined with the inevitable forces of gravity, might just be enough to both overcome the inertia of a Buick-sized bell at rest and get it moving quickly enough to overcome the spring-loaded clapper that actually makes the bell sound while swinging. And this was not something we invented; we were taught this technique by those who rang the bells before us and who taught us also how to play "normally." [The image at left, taken from a Meneely catalog, is similar to the setup at St. John's, but only 10 bells are pictured here. The large bell above the others is the "tenor" bell.]

Fortunately, the tolling rope is rather easier to pull. Listen some Sunday morning as the bells are played. As per a tradition passed down from chimer to chimer, each Sunday playing begins with three rings of the tenor bell, played from the chimestand. Similarly, each Sunday ends as well with three rings, this time from the tolling rope. If you listen closely, you can hear a difference in the tone of the beginning and ending notes.

It is still only on rare occasions that any attempt is made to swing the tenor bell. It still takes every bit of strength I can muster, and the threat of sprained wrists or rope burns on the hands from a fast-moving rope is a threat not to be taken lightly.

One of the options the Troy Meneely Bell Co. offered in their chime installations, as evidenced by a description in their catalog, was a second set of keys, identical to and back-to-back with the first set. These keys activated an entirely separate set of hammers, with heads made of an extremely hard wood called lignum vitae. These wooden hammers produce a softer and mellower tone than do the bronze hammers.

Apparently, this option caught the attention of those responsible for contracting with Meneely Bell Co. of Troy to install the present set of bells here at St. John's, and such a mechanism was installed. For reasons unknown, this alternative mechanism was disabled and removed from the tower many, many years ago. Actually, removed is not quite accurate. The chimestand is located on the first level above the tower entrance to the church. The bells themselves are two levels above that. The hammers and other parts of the second mechanism were, for the most part, carried down to the intermediate level of the tower and somewhat unceremoniously tossed into the corners. Even the second set of keys was removed from the chimestand and carried up to that intermediate level.

Fortunately, all of the important and irreplaceable pieces, along with about 80% of the hardware and most of the long, wooden connecting rods (carelessly cut in half to make removal easier), survived intact through years of dust and numerous cleanings of the tower to rid it of nasty accumulations of pigeon waste.

In talking with several people who have studied chime installations and records of the two Meneely companies, I have come to the conclusion that St. John's chime is unique in the Troy-Albany area and probably in the Northeast. In fact, of all existing Meneely installations, and there are hundreds throughout North America, St. John's appears to be the only surviving chime with this "dual playing mode." I am presently looking into the very real possibility of restoring the second mechanism.

There are two other points worthy of note regarding St. John's chime. One is the fact that St. John's chime, unlike so many installations, has been maintained in good working order and played almost continually since its installation in 1910-11. The other is the fact that these bells, unlike a great number of other installations, were never "electrified." They are still played "manually," the way they were originally designed and built to be played.

Jack Bauer noted in his 150th anniversary history of St. John's that "professional" chimers were employed by St. John's up until 1922. Since then, a great number of parish members have played the chime regularly. Many of these were choir members or other young people in the church. And many have signed the casing of the window above the tower entrance to the church.

The chime still plays remarkably well after the better part of 100 years. Other than slight deterioration in the relative pitch of several of them, the 11 bells remain surprisingly in tune with each other. The remaining ringing mechanism is unchanged from the 1910-11 installation, the manila ropes for tolling and for swinging the tenor bell are likely the originals, and the chimestand itself is equipped probably with only the second or third set of leather belts to connect it with the ringing mechanism above.

By the way, if you happen past St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in North Troy, the Thompson Memorial Chapel on the Williams College campus, or the Cadet Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the bell sounds are also those of Troy Meneely chimes very similar to those of St. John's.

I am happy to show the chimestand or even the bells themselves -- any Sunday -- to anyone who is interested, isn't too bothered by heights and open ladder-style staircases and is willing to endure a bit of dust, cobwebs and the occasional cooing of a pigeon, who hopefully is now roosting only outside of the tower.

AllChimes.com -- all sorts of chimes and related information
Troy’s History Rings Loudly! By Don Rittner
Meneely Bell Fact File By Sloane D. Bullough
Meneely Bell Online Museum By Dan Meneely, grandson of Clinton Meneely

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Revised June 6, 2004. Questions? Thoughts? Comments? E-mail the Webmaster!

1/21/01 -- asm