Athens is restoring the City Building’s bell, which is almost 150 years old, after years of a vacant cupola.
The restoration is part of a larger historic preservation plan for the city. The bell will be rededicated to the city building for its 150th anniversary.
Deputy Service-Safety Director, Andrew Chiki, said preserving Athens’ historic values comes from the citizens.
“There is a drive from many community members, both people interested in history and people interested in Athens, specifically people that are interested in the arts, to preserve and protect and promote the things that make Athens uniquely Athens,” Chiki said.
According to Chiki, the Athens bell was first cast by the Buckeye Bell Company in 1875. The company, located in Cincinnati, worked on other notable projects including the 1869, 35,000-pound bell known as Big Joe.
The Buckeye Bell Company was later bought by The Verdin Company, also located in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1955.
“It's a kind of a full circle thing,” Chiki said. “It would be typical that the foundry that you used would be the one that would do maintenance work on it and that kind of thing. It's just the company hasn't existed in a very long time.”
Despite the Verdin Company’s commitment to historical preservation, President Tim Verdin says it also takes advantage of modern technologies.
“People want their equipment to look original,” Verdin said. “They want the appearance of old original clocks or an old original bell, but they want the modern conveniences that are associated with the technology."
According to Verdin, the Athens Bell project will combine restoration and renovation.
Aside from making the bell look like it did in 1875, The Verdin Company can also add some additions to the bell.
“What we can do is add modern bell ringing equipment, such as an electromagnetic striker and a digital bell controller that will essentially never get out of sync so that somebody doesn't have to pull the hammer to ring the bell,” Verdin said.
According to Chiki, the Historic Preservation Commission is working alongside city officials to restore other landmarks like the fountain statue Hebe.
Chiki said the fountain was located on a public drinking fountain at the corner of Washington and Court Streets in the early 1900s.
The fountain was then moved to storage and almost thrown in the trash, Chiki said. However, a group of Athens residents worked to save and restore the fountain.
Its current location is at the Athens Water Treatment Plant, where people cannot go see the statue due to plant security. Chiki said the city is now working to move the fountain to city hall.
“We want to be incredibly respectful to the people who did the work of restoring her and protecting her,” Chiki said. “The charge of the plant manager and people like myself is really to preserve and protect her for the future. At the same time, we want to make her publicly available again.”
While neither projects have an estimated completion date, Chiki hopes the projects will be appreciated by generations of Athens residents to come.
“Hopefully (the bell will) be up there for another 100 years and people that have been here and have kids, they come back and visit,” Chiki said. “They'll look up and they'll see it. They'll hear it and it brings back the sounds and sights and feelings that they had when they were younger.”
