Dinner Bell at Century Village

The bell at the Jones Barn at Century Village has an Ohio connection.  The bell was made by the C. S. Bell Company sometime between 1882 and 1894.  Charles Singleton Bell founded the company in 1875 atHillsboro, Ohio.  His bells were sold and shipped around the world and were used on U. S. Navy ships during the invasion of Normandy.  His bells were sold by the foundry, through catalog and retail outlets.  Bells sold through retailers were not labelled with the C. S. Bell Company name.  The bell at Century Village is labelled which suggests it was sold by the manufacturer.He had two categories for bells:  Farm bells that weighed between 40-100 pounds each and school and church bells weighing from 150-1,000 pounds.  By 1890, he had sales over 20,000 bells and 15 different sizes.Today, Hillsboro celebrates its foundry heritage with the Festival of the Bells each year near Independence Day.