The Town Bell Rang 5 times Daily for 76 years

All About The Bell

As I wrote briefly last week, the half-ton bell was finally installed in 1874 in the bell tower of the Old Town Hall. The town finally had its own bell to mark the important times of the day. The bell would be rung 5 times every day echoing the whistle of the Penman’s factory. The bell rang at 6am, 7am, noon, 1pm, and 7pm, announcing a wake-up call, the start of the workday, lunch hour and at 7pm to signal the stores are all closing, On Sundays, the bell sounded at 10:30am and 11:30am and at 6 and 6:30pm up until March 29, 1905, when it was decided that the bell should observe the sabbath and therefore would be silent on Sundays. Continued on page 10

The bell also rang to alert the fire brigade until 1900 when a siren was installed in the new downtown firehall. The bell, which had been rung faithfully five times a day for 76 years, went silent on Nov 13, 1950, when the shaft on the instrument broke and town officials ordered it not to be rung again until repairs could be completed. The bell had been rung for the last 10 years by Mrs. Lydia Robb for an annual fee of $120. The Robb family were the proprietors of the Canadian House Tavern across the street and W. B. Robb Sr , father of Lydia's husband had the contract from 1916 until he became ill in 1941. Before him, the job was handled by Sam Robinson Many residents in the vicinity of the old Town Hall missed the traditional clanging of the bell. For several days Mrs Robb was kept busy answering the question: "Why isn’t the bell ringing?" Many persons depended on it to arrive at work and school on time. No announcement had been made as to whether town officials intended to repair the bell so it may ring once again. On July 2, 1953, the bell was installed at its new site at Grand River and Dumfries streets, Lydia Robb rang the bell again at the exact time that the crown was placed on the head of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey as part of the Paris coronation celebrations. In 1967 the bell was once again silenced and stored at the public works yard Through the generosity of the Paris Lions Club, the Paris Museum and Historical Society, and other businesses and individuals the town bell was remounted on a cairn in the municipal parking lot. On Canada Day 2002, a millennium dream came true when the bell and cairn were unveiled in joyful ringing by Winnifred R (Robb) Todd whose grandparents, mother, aunts, and herself, had rang the bell since 1916 Mrs Todd’s first recollection of the ringing of the bell was around the end of the Second World War. This grand old bell has been an integral part of the daily life and celebrations of the people of Paris. It would be absolutely amazing if the old bell could be returned to the tower where it first rang in 1874 so the town could once again mark significant moments in history and celebrations at the former Town hall, perhaps at a wedding in the opera house in the hopefully restored Bawcutt Centre.