First Methodist Church Bell
Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after Fairfield Female College opened here in 1858, plans were made to have a bell cast. The students gave some of their money and jewelry to give "tone" to the bell and the citizens added several hundred dollars in silver. The bell was made in England, then shipped to Galveston and hauled here by ox-wagon. Because of its great weight, college officials had the bell placed in a special frame on the front porch. When the college buildings were torn down in 1909, the bell was given to the Methodist Church, where it is still in use today.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Soon after Fairfield Female College opened in 1858, plans were made to cast a bell, with students donating money and jewelry to give it "tone" and townspeople adding hundreds of dollars in silver. Cast in England, the bell was shipped to Galveston and hauled inland by ox-wagon, so heavy it had to be mounted in a special frame on the college porch. When the college buildings were demolished in 1909, the bell passed to the Methodist Church, where it still rings today.
Why it matters
The bell survives as a tangible relic of one of antebellum Texas's early women's colleges, carrying the voices of its students into a new century of use.
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Themes & tags
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