By Melanie Cooper
The Nauvoo Bell, weighing over 1,500 pounds, was originally donated by
the British Saints for the Nauvoo Temple and brought to the United States
by Wilford Woodruff. When pressure from mobs forced the Saints to evacuate
the city, the bell was left behind and placed in a local Protestant church.
It was recovered by members of the Lamoreaux family before they left Nauvoo
to head west.
"One stormy night the men gathered in secret
and without horses pulled the wagon to the Church and lowered the Bell,
pushed and pulled the wagon by hand to the edge of the Mississippi River
and carefully concealed it in the water. Andrew Lamoreaux and his brother,
David, were chosen to bring the Bell to Utah with their families, concealing
the Bell in their wagon with their provisions." 1
On the journey to Salt Lake City the bell was used to "awaken the herdsmen
at dawn, to signal morning prayer, to start the day's march, and to sound
during the night watches to let the Indians know that the sentry was at
his post." Once in Salt Lake City the bell was used in several locations
such as the first old bowery, Brigham Young's schoolhouse, a Church business
building and the Bureau of Information on Temple Square. It didn't find
it's present day location and permanent home until 1942 when the Relief
Society placed it in a bell tower on Temple Square to celebrate their
centennial.
Placing the bell on Temple Square fulfilled a 1862 prophecy by Brigham
Young: "Right west of the temple we shall build a tower and put a bell
on it.... This plan was shown to me in a vision when I first came onto
the ground." (B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 5:136).
In 1961 President David O. McKay, presiding at a ceremony at KSL-TV,
said: "In its own way, the Nauvoo bell is a symbol of religious freedom
in our land. . . . When we hear, henceforth, the sound of the Nauvoo bell,
let it remind us anew that our nation and our community owes its existence
to our trust in God." ("As We See It," Church News, July 29, 1961).
Today the bell rings at the beginning of each hour. The ring of the bell
on the hour has been featured for years on KSL radio as well to mark the
"top of the hour". It is also interesting to note that the ringing of
the Nauvoo Bell can be controlled by a panel on the Mormon Tabernacle
organ. The bell is also rung on special occassions such as the recent
memorial services held on September 14, 2001 for those who died in the
terrorist attacks on the United States of America.
During the closing session of the 169th Annual General Conference of the
Church (April 1999), President Hinckley made an exciting announcement that
the Nauvoo Temple was to be rebuilt. The temple had not survived long after
the Saints' departure from Nauvoo. It was gutted by fire on October 1848
and was further weakened by a tornado in May 1850. The ruined building was
later razed, and its stones were used to construct other buildings.
On October 24, 1999, ground was broken for the new temple and construction
began shortly thereafter. As part of the new construction, a 1,000 pound
bronze-alloy replica of the Nauvoo bell was cast by Petit Fritsen Bell
Foundry in the Netherlands. The new bell was lifted into the tower of
the temple on July 3, 2001. The striker of the new bell will be driven
electronically by an integrated computer-driven clock so that it can be
set to sound at any time. It is pitched to chime near an F sharp on the
musical scale.
On September 21, 2001 spectators cheered as a statue of the Angel Moroni
was set into place and the bell in the temple's domed tower chimed seven
times.
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