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The 157-year-old Hardwick Academy bell sits in a fieldstone and wooden cupola in Memorial Park.
by Patrick Hussey
HARDWICK – When the calendar turns to 2024, it will mark the 157th year since the Hardwick Academy bell was manufactured and the 47th year of it being laid to rest in Memorial Park.
In 1970, Hardwick Academy (HA), built in 1892, was about to be torn down. The 1970 class was the last to graduate from old H.A., as the new Hazen Union School was scheduled to open that fall. The Academy bell had a lot of history, and the seniors wanted to make sure the bell stayed relevant.
During a turbulent week in June of 1970, five or so members of the graduating class stole the bell, acting on rumors it may be sold off to the highest bidder. They were determined the bell needed to be preserved. That was a good thing, because the Academy bell is a treasure.
The Hardwick Academy bell was manufactured by the Meneely Bell Company in 1868 in West Troy, N.Y. Andrew Meneely, company founder, was one of the greatest bell makers in American history. His bells were renowned for their rich tones and exceptional quality. His company produced over 65,000 bells from 1826-1952 and were distributed throughout the world.
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A plaque was recently installed to the Hardwick Academy bell structure after repairs were made to the roof earlier this year.
Meneely was a silversmith by training, an alchemist who mastered the mix of copper, tin and molten heat to produce bells of elemental beauty and exceptional functionality. The Meneely foundry became one of the largest and most acclaimed bell foundries in the country.
Andrew Meneely passed at age 49 on October 14, 1851, and afterwards, two of his sons, Edwin and George, took over the business. A third son, Clinton Hanks Meneely, fought in the Civil War and wanted to join his brothers when he returned, but they denied him, so he started his own foundry.
Meneely bells were exceptionally made and have lasted for generations. There are several Meneely bells in Vermont still ringing today, among them at the Berlin Congregational Church, the Wilder Center in Wilder, St. Peter’s Church in Rutland, Brattleboro High School, the Williston Town Hall, Middlebury’s Congregational Church and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington, which has eight Meneely bells that still ring today.
It took six years and a couple stops for the Academy bell to find it’s second home. As the story goes, the Class of 1970 began thinking about the bell’s heist during their Friday, June 5, 1970, class trip. On the evening of the alumni reunion in Hardwick, Saturday, June 13, five members of the graduating class climbed up into the belfry around midnight and began work on lowering the bell.
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In a photo in the June 29, 1976, edition of The Hardwickian, Orise (Dufresne) Ainsworth stands in front of the fieldstone and wood cupola housing the former Hardwick Academy bell in Memorial Park in front of the Memorial Building in Hardwick. Ainsworth led the campaign to enshrine the relic from Hardwick Academy, and was fondly remembered by members of the Hardwick Academy Alumni Association. Ainsworth was a member of the Class of 1970, the last to graduate from Hardwick Academy before Hazen Union came into being.
They ran into some trouble and at about 2:30 in the morning, policeman George Whitney discovered the attempted theft and held a flashlight for them so no one would get hurt. The seniors successfully lowered the bell, put it into a truck and hid it.
That Monday, June 15, word had gotten out and the school board demanded they return the bell or face charges. They were given a 4 p.m. deadline. Early that afternoon, the seniors passed a petition around town suggesting the bell be given to the Hardwick taxpayers. They got over 400 signatures.
The seniors returned the bell by 4 p.m. and it was placed in the basement of the Academy. The following afternoon, Tuesday June 16, the school board relented and unanimously approved turning the bell over to the Class of 1970 and all living Hardwick Academy alumni.
The developing story was making headlines that day in Vermont newspapers. The Burlington Free Press and the Times Argus both printed stories on the events. The Tuesday Argus article stated the seniors wanted to donate the bell back to the citizens of Hardwick and alumni during their Class Day on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, June 17, Class Day was scheduled for 1 p.m. A Free Press article that day quoted principal Dave Driscoll, who stated, that despite the rumors, he had attended all school board meetings and there was never any mention of them taking offers for the bell.
The Times Argus reported the bell was going to be returned and was to be presented to the Town of Hardwick and Hardwick Alumni by Howard Fletcher at Class Day. It also reported that the bell was going to be placed in Hardwick’s Memorial Park that summer. The bell was reportedly moved to the garage of the new alumni association President, Wendall Ainsworth.
On Thursday, June 18, graduation was scheduled for 8 p.m. The Hardwick Gazette printed an article that day, and in it, the school board confirmed they had fielded no offers for the bell. The article quoted the board as saying “We therefore willingly pass over to your care (Class of 1970) and all alumni living, who may have heard its sounds, the bell, now removed and safely placed in the school basement.” The board wanted to hear of the plans for the bell’s future and hinted they would like to see it erected near the site of the Academy building.
The bell story fell silent until December 10 of that year. The Hardwick Gazette printed an article that said “with cooperation and agreement of the Hardwick Academy Alumni Association and the Union School Directors, the bell is scheduled to be placed on the Hazen Union School grounds.”
It reported the bell had been moved to the Hazen Union gym lobby and plans were being made to build a cupola by the flagpole outside the school to house the bell. It further reported the Hazen student council had already raised $175 in funds for the project and were asking for further donations. It was to be built that spring. But for some reason, the project never saw the light of day.
During an alumni reunion business meeting in June of 1971, the group discussed the bell’s future. Elwyn Daniels spoke up in favor of letting the athletes at Hazen continue the tradition of ringing the bell. Others wanted to see it go back to the old Academy grounds. Still others wanted it to go to Memorial Park.
The Hardwick Gazette article also reported the association had paid a $1 for the bell in 1970. That October, another Gazette article, written by Roger LeCours, who now was the alumni president, said Hazen Union needed to move the bell from a storage room and they were going to bring it to Hardwick’s Memorial Building museum.
LeCours stated the bell belonged to the Hardwick Academy/ Hazen Union Alumni Association and that group had voted in June to put it in Memorial Park, an idea he supported.
A year later, on May 11, 1972, LeCours wrote a Gazette article in which he apologized for no action yet on developing a structure for the bell. The alumni association was, however, slowly donating to the Memorial Park project.
Over the next few years, there was no progress on the bell’s cupola. At the 1975 Alumni Reunion, the Class of 1970 asked what was happening with the bell. Alumni president Steve Holcomb promised to make the bell project a priority.
At June 1976 Alumni Reunion, Orise Ainsworth, a 1970 graduate who by now was very involved in the bell project, stated that another $300 was needed to finally complete the fundraising.
The Class of 1976 donated $50 that night and the alumni association gave $100 and the remainder of the money was raised. The bell’s cupola was completed in Memorial Park on June 24, 1976, where it has sat ever since.
The Gazette printed an article in the summer of 2016 stating the Hazen Union school board was discussing the possibility moving the bell to the school. That was during a controversial time when an overgrown pine tree was going to be cut down in Memorial Park. Ainsworth attended a school board meeting about the bell and talked them out of the move, stating in the article it belonged to the town.
There was renewed interested in moving the bell after the passing of Hazen Union junior Finn Rooney in 2020. A year earlier, Rooney first heard of the bell’s ancestry and became very interested in reviving what had once been a wonderful tradition of bell ringing. He began lobbying to bring the bell to Hazen until his passing.
In February of 2020, a group attended a Hardwick select board meeting hoping to get support to move the bell, but the board felt they had no jurisdiction over it. The town of Greensboro would eventually donate a bell to ring, a bell tower was constructed at Hazen Union and the Greensboro bell was raised to complete Rooney’s vision.
Despite a couple efforts to let it ring again, the Academy bell has remained largely idle in Memorial Park.
