SCHOOL BELL
SILVERHILL, ALABAMA
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Silverhill School with bell in the bell tower about 1923.
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The Silverhill Lutheran congregation organized in 1905 and built their sanctuary in 1915. During the ten years before they built the church, the Lutherans held their worship services in the 2-story schoolhouse. Read more about Zion Lutheran Church History.
In 1913, the Lutheran congregation bought a bell to be shared by the church and the school. The school improvement society raised money to build a bell tower at the front of the school, which was finished in early 1914. The bell was placed at the top of the tower. Read more about the Silverhill School History.
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Silverhill School with bell in bell tower about 1915-1920.
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Zion Lutheran Church and Silverhill School with bell in the bell tower about 1915-1920.
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While the bell was in the two-story bell tower, it was rung each morning to start the school day and each Sunday to begin church services. The bell was also used as a fire alarm since Silverhill didn’t have a fire department at the time. Townspeople would respond to fires with buckets of water, and the school bell alerted them to take action.
In 1906, Miss Mildred Hall, a teacher at the Silverhill School, organized the Non Pariel Club that sponsored the town library. The books they gathered for the public to borrow where kept on shelves in the bell tower room of the two-story Silverhill School building. The book collection remained at the school until the 1920s, when they were moved to the Oscar Johnson Land Company Office, the present-day library. Read more about the Silverhill Library History.
After the Lutherans built their church, they donated the bell to the school. They bought a larger bell for the church in 1927.
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Silverhill School about 1929.
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The first Silverhill Public School was built in 1928 across the street from the old 2-story wooden schoolhouse. The bell was removed from the bell tower at the old schoolhouse in January 1930 when it was placed behind the new brick school. That school building later burned in 1955. Read more about the Silverhill School fire.
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Silverhill School about 1960s.
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In 1956, a new Silverhill School was built on the same site where the previous school had burned down. In 1960, a fundraising effort similar to the one in 1913 was organized to permanently mount the school bell. The bell was placed on cement pillars in front of the school.
Photos of
The Silverhill School Bell
Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, June 19, 2024.
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Silverhill School Bell, December 05, 2024, A Walk To Remember.
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Silverhill School Bell, December 05, 2024, A Walk To Remember.
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Go here to see photos of the school bell in 2003, along with pictures of the school campus and town.
Newspaper Clippings and Articles about
The Silverhill School Bell
Click each to enlarge or expand and read.
Newspaper Clipping taken from the Fairhope Courier, November 28, 1913, page 1. Click to see larger article.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Onlooker, February 11, 1914, page 2.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Fairhope Courier, April 23, 1915, page 1.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Onlooker, April 6, 1922, page 4.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Onlooker, January 30, 1930.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Onlooker, March 17, 1960, page 15.
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Newspaper Clipping taken from the Onlooker, September 15, 1960, page 12. Click to enlarge and read.
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Written December 2024
by Debbie Owen
Resources
ChatGPT, ChatGPT 4.0 version, OpenAI, December 2024, "ChatGPT was used to revise content, and in the correction of spelling and grammar."
https://openai.com/
Newspapers website. The Baldwin Times of Bay Minette, Alabama, and The Fairhope Courier of Fairhope, Alabama, and The Onlooker of Foley, Alabama.
https://www.newspapers.com/
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