History of Church Bell

The bell which rang out to signify the consecration was once a prized possession on the James Montgomery, a steamboat once used as a Civil War troop transport to carry soldiers to the Battle of Belmont.

When the boat sank in 1861, Captain Halliday secured the bell for the Fourteenth Street church which was being remodeled and enlarged, partly through the contributions of soldiers stationed at Cairo in the first year of the Civil War.  It was reported that a thousand silver dollars were used in the casting of the bell adding to its beautiful tone.

In 1874, the bell was found to be badly cracked and it had to be recast.  A quantity of “virgin” or bar silver was donated by the Governor of Arizona, A.P.K. Safford, a brother of A.B. Safford of Cairo.

In the 1953 fire, that same bell was removed from the ruins of the Church of the Redeemer and stored until the church could be rebuilt.  It is no installed in the present belfry.

From the time of the 1953 fire to 1958, Masses and all other services and parish functions were held in the adjacent Chapel and spacious Paris House.