The cast iron bell, that was displayed in front of the Luverne Middle-High School for 47 years returned in late June to a place of more prominence.
Workers with Oh’Landscapes of Mayer, Minnesota, brought the now refurbished and operational school bell back to Luverne Monday.
The bell, complete with a tower, was placed in the school’s alumni garden.
For the past 18 months, the bell has been at the Dassel-Cokato High School where teacher Steve Ellis and 20 students refurbished it and brought it back to working order.
Ellis was asked to do the project by Warren Herreid II, whose K.A.H.R. Foundation funded the construction of the alumni garden two years ago.
Ellis was in Luverne Monday, assisting with setting of the bell and its tower.
He explained the process took a little longer, due to the school remodeling his classroom last year.
Another element also lengthened the project’s timeline.
“It began as just fixing the bell and turned into ‘We needed a tower,’” Ellis said.
He estimates that the bell was first cast between 1865 and 1892, based on the No. 32 stamped on the bell’s frame.
It required several repairs to bring the bell back to working order.
Students made a replacement for the missing clapper and added new shafts and bushings to the frame. A new damper tension spring (to control the clapper’s movement) was fabricated from a World War II leaf spring.
“The bell will have a rope so it can be rung,” Ellis said. He also said it can be locked so it can’t be rung without permission.
The bell, which was previously a matte black color, is now powder coated bronze for its final display.
The tower, which is powder coated black, was designed with 3D modeling. and the steel sheets were created with a plasma cutter.
The high school students welded the steel pieces together.
The bell has a history of being forgotten.
The LHS Class of 1972 set the bell in front of the school as a class project.
It was thought to have been the bell at the former high school built in 1895.
In the summer of 2023 when work began on the alumni garden, plans were made to refurbish the bell.
A metal sign, “Luverne Public Schools,” will be added to the tower to complete the project.
By Mavis Fodness, Rock County Star Herald