Lower Merion Academy School bell, cast 1888, rededicated 1976

The McShane Bell Foundry, located in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, is a maker of

church bell A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...

s founded in 1856. Over the past 150 years, the firm has produced over 300,000 bells. In 2019, the company moved its headquarters from

Glen Burnie Glen Burnie is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. The population of Glen Burnie was 67,639 at ...

, near Baltimore, Maryland to St. Louis Missouri, as it centralized its manufacturing and shipping.

History

Henry McShane (1830-1889), an immigrant from Dundalk, Ireland, established the McShane Bell Foundry in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

at Holliday and Centre Streets in 1856. By the late 19th century, the business had produced tens of thousands of bells, including dozens of chimes, shipping them out to churches and public buildings across the USA and beyond, and expanded to a large factory complex on Guilford Avenue (then known as North Street). In 1935, the Henry McShane Manufacturing Company sold the foundry to William Parker, whose family continued to operate the business for three generations. The McShane Bell Foundry moved to Glen Burnie, Maryland in 1979 and was the only surviving large Western-style bell maker of the many that had once operated in the United States. Over the course of more than a century, the firm produced over 300,000 bells for cathedrals, churches, municipal buildings and schools in communities around the world - including the 7,000-pound bell that hangs in the dome of

Baltimore City Hall Baltimore City Hall is the official seat of government of the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland. The City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor and those of the City Council of Baltimore. The building also hosts the city Comptroller, som ...

. It was featured on an episode of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

's show ''

Dirty Jobs ''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sh ...

''. In 2019, ownership of the company changed, and it was relocated to

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

, where it is now known as the McShane Bell Company.

References

External links

McShane Bell Company websiteThe McShane bell foundry (1900)
company catalog Bell foundries of the United States Manufacturing companies based in St. Louis Companies based in Anne Arundel County, Maryland Glen Burnie, Maryland 1856 establishments in Maryland {{musical-instrument-company-stub