Tales & Trails
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Volume 18 Winter 2016 Tales & Trails NEWSLETTER OF THE BERLIN AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY New Donations to our S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F Collection I N T E R E S T : 2016 Tree in the P a r k In recent months the citizens of Berlin and elsewhere have BAHS Tree in Indian theme remembered the Berlin Historical the Park Society by donating items of in- Berlin hosted a terest and Berlin history to us. successful Re- Remember as you clean clos- gional Confer- ets and storage rooms this spring ence to put aside items that pertain to Berlin History and donate those New donations things to the Berlin Historical Soci- for our collec- ety. tions Our mission is to preserve Berlin The Story of History and with your help we Berlin’s Bells. can. Regional Conference a Success. We hosted a Wisconsin Histori- cal Society Regional Conference on August 8 at the 1st National Bank building. It was deemed a Berlin Historical Society’s great success. Clubmembers INSIDE THIS Christmas Tree I S S U E : provided treats for the coffee Thanks to Diane Olson and committee hour and the buffet lunch. for again doing our tree in Nathan Strong Below is President Lee Erd- Park. This has been an annual city-wide mann ,Regional Rep Janet Ghost Walk 2016 2 project for several years now. Each year the Seymour and the District event gets bigger. 2016 saw 110 trees dec- Rep. Inspiration Wall Honorees 2 for 2016 orated and lighted. Some are in honor of individuals, some are done by businesses, Thanks to our volunteers 2 clubs or schools. The annual lighting is held the same night as the Christmas parade. Berlin Bells story contined on pg 2 3 The park is beautiful at night with all the trees ablaze in color. Our theme this year honored the Berlin Membership 4 Indians, the Native Americans who lived here before us. Berlin Bells continued….. P a g e 2 old frame Washington School. 2016 Inspiration Wall Honorees St. John’s Lutheran Church bell seems to be the third largest by weight Pictured are the 2016 Honorees to the Be Pictured are the at 3,000 lbs. The melodious bell rings 2016 Honorees to in the key of F Sharp, the only bell the ‘Be Proud, Be whose key has been identified. The first Inspired’ Wall. just church building was built in 1901 From left is Mark on the corner of Mound and S.W. Doll, Bev Biegick Ceresco Sts. In 1999 the congregation Keelor and Dick built a new church across the street Fortnum represent- from the 1901 structure. ing his grandfather, Tim Fortnum who One other bell used to ring on a regu- was nominated and lar basis and that is the small bell locat- installed. ed in the clock tower. In 1913 when Alderman John Nigbor proposed build- ing his building on the corner of Huron On November 30th around 40 people gathered for the unveiling of the 2016 Honorees to the Inspiration Wall at the Berlin High and Capron Sts, he told the City Coun- School. The group included BAHS members, School Board mem- cil he would build a tower if the city bers, a Student Council representative, family and friends of the would supply a clock and bell. Up to honorees. This is the 4th year for this joint project between the Berlin this time the city arranged for the ring- Area Historical Society and the Berlin School District. ing of the Methodist Church bell locat- Nominations for 2017 will be open right after the 1st of the ed on Park Ave. to help residents keep year. Nomination forms and information is available on our time. The clock tower bell is small, website. Check back page for address. about 500 lbs. but is of bell metal and Thanks to Julie Boeck, can be heard a long distance. It is no Don Fink, Ron Harke, Roger longer rung on a regular basis but the - Mekow, Bonnie Nehring and four faced clock still helps residents Leone Seaman for helping and visitors stay on time. them along. Another city-owned bell system is Thanks also to our guides, located in the tower of the 1923 built Chris Kalupa, chairman of the Griffith Chapel in Oakwood Cemetery. event, Judy Smith, and our It is electronic tubular chimes made of three new guides, Jenna bell metal by McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore MD. one of the oldest bell- Pictured is Don Fink portraying Attorney Young, Fortnum’s grand- J. J. Wood who officiated at the funeral of daughter, Kristin Erdmann, founders in America. The chimes can Chief Highknocker. the Erdmann’s granddaugh- be played from a keyboard on the main 2016 Ghost Walk is in the ter and her friend, Amber floor but are currently inoperative. The next time you hear one of these History Books Williams. beautiful bells ring out, remember its We are now looking for our theme for next year’s Ghost history and the people who brought The 2016 Ghost Walk, Corpus Ju- them to our city. ris, A Post Mortem Look at Ber- ———— , was held on lin’s Bodies of Law Thanks to Ruth Gimenez and October 15th. all the volunteers who manned Although the numbers were our open houses during the down this year, those who joined summer. You are much appre- us all seemed to enjoy themselves. ciated. Our crew of spirits co-operated Thanks to Don Fink for and made their scheduled appear- maintaining our grounds, cut- ances. Leone Seaman greeting tourgoers as Mrs. Ezra Wheeler. ting grass and shoveling snow. V o l u m e 1 8 P a g e 3 The Bells of Berlin This article is a combination of es- that in the bell tower of the Federat- It weighs 4,000 lbs., twice as says written by Nona O’Connor ed Church (former Union Church)on much as the original Liberty Bell sometime around 1930 and Annette the corner of E. Huron and S. State of Philadelphia. Mrs. Secora Secora, the first BAHS president, Sts. This bell was placed in the states, “It came from the Buck- written in Dec. of 1977. ‘sawdust’ church on the corner of eye Bell Foundry in Cincinnati, W. Huron and S. Pearl Sts. before was in the old church built in With the morning sun creeping 1851. It was called the “sawdust 1885 and transferred to the new cautiously up in the heavens, the church” because sawdust had been church in 1927. An interesting Bells of Berlin, of which there are placed between the boards for insu- historical fact is that Catholic many, peal forth their messages to lation and when the bell was rung, church bells were blessed and the inhabitants as a daily reminder the sawdust would rain down on the baptized in special ceremonies of the call to devotions. congregation below. down through the ages. The Several of the bells in Berlin Miss O’Connor writes, “The Un- name given St. Mike’s bell was churches have been ringing for ion Church may claim possession of ‘Jesus.’ years and years. In some of the the smallest church bell in the City. In the highest belfry and an- churches, the bells have been taken The bell sits serenely in the loft, other of the larger bell in Berlin, from old structures and are many weathering sunshine and rain and is Zigmund, the bell in St. Stani- years older than the buildings in openly exposed to the wind and slaus tower. It came from the which they are now hung. storm but patiently awaiting its turn Stuckstede Bell Foundry in St. The bell in the Methodist Church to do duty.” It was moved to the new Louis, MO. and was installed in is probably the oldest bell in the Union Church when they built their the tower in 1914. A smaller bell city. The date 1863 is stamped on second structure around 1856. Then, had been used before that. the bell and records show that it having outgrown this building the St. Joseph’s is a large bell al- was that year, or a little later, when congregation built the current church so, weighing about 2500 lbs. It the bell was installed in the old building in 1898 and the little bell was bought for the old church in wooden Methodist Church. was installed in its bell tower. 1896 and rung for the first time Popular subscriptions was partly The second oldest bell in the city on Christmas Day. It was moved responsible for the purchase of that is no longer there. It was the Baptist to the present granite church bell. As a result, provision was Church bell, first put up in the old when it was built in 1908.” All made by the City for the bell to ring Free Baptist church which faced three of these bells were taken 4 times a day and such was the Broadway and stood on the corner of down and installed in the new practice for many years. When the what is now Broadway and Wash- bell tower for All Saints Church next church was built, the old bell ington Sts. The bell was put in the in 2006. was transferred to its new home, church sometime around 1858 or 60, Miss O’Connor writes, “ The looking out over the roofs of the and when the present Baptist church Salem Evangelical Church bell is Berlin business section with the was erected, the old bell was trans- secreted in the short tower of the pride of an aristocrat of long stand- ferred there sometime around 1870.