Old Courthouse bell strikes a few memories

The very first courthouse in Fleming County was a log structure built around 1799. The next courthouse was a two-story brick built in 1829 by James Eckles and Samuel Stockwell and was used until 1951. Below, when the cupola was added to the present courthouse in 1993, the old bell was placed in the belfry.

A recent discussion about the old Fleming County courthouse bell has had a few former citizens wondering if the historic bell sits in the cupola that crowns the roof of the present courthouse.

Fleming County native and noted history buff, Marvin Suit, was happy to share information about the history of the clock and the bell.

“According to oral history, the clock that was in the 1829 courthouse cupola was built by James Feemster, who was a local blacksmith. When the court house was built it had neither a clock nor a bell in the cupola,” Suit said. Reportedly, Mr. Feemster was sent to England to learn the art of building a clock which would have four faces to show the time as viewed from each of the streets leading from the courthouse. Upon completion of the clock, it was discovered that the clock was too large for the space in the cupola. Mr. Feemster then sold the clock to the City of Maysville for placement in their City Hall building, (now the Mason County Court House), with the agreement that he could take a pattern from the clock and make another for the Fleming Court House, which was placed there sometime prior to 1844” Suit said.

In October 1835, a committee was appointed to purchase a bell to be placed in the courthouse cupola and should not cost more than three hundred dollars.

The bronze bell that was purchased, weighed several hundred pounds with a raised lettering casting mark on the edge that reads, L. Aspinwall, Albany,1836.

Once the bell was placed more preparations had to be made for the bell to strike the hour.

“The court records of July 1844 reflect that a committee was appointed to prepare the cupola to ring the bell with ropes attached to the clapper, instead of turning the same as theretofore. This was necessary for the bell to become stationary rather than swinging because the bell was situated above the clock and the clocks striking mechanism activated a hammer which struck the outside of the bell to announce the hour. A rope was attached to the clapper and was pulled through a pulley at the side of the bell for it to be rung from downstairs in the court room. The bell and clock tower had to be reached by climbing three sets of ladders and the clock had to be wound every three days. The weight on the running side weighed 100 pounds and the one on the striking side weighed 120 pounds. David Fleming and I climbed the ladders into the tower in 1948 and coaxed the clock back to life after a rest of several years. I continued to wind the clock until the building was demolished in 1951. Fiscal Court had put $100.00 per year in their budget for winding the clock,” Suit explained.

After the courthouse that was built in 1829 was torn down to make way for the present structure, both the clock and the bell were sold at public auction.

“When the materials and furnishings from the razed building were sold at public auction on April 5, 1952, Mrs. Harriet Dudley Grannis bought the clock and stored it in her garage. Several years later when she went to show it to someone it was gone. It later turned up in the county barn but the pendulum was missing. This is a vital part of the weight run clock. What remains of the clock is now stored in the Fleming County Covered Bridge Museum. The bell was sold at the sale to James Evans, a former police chief in Flemingsburg. He later sold it to Circuit Judge John A. Breslin for $100 who had it installed on the roof of the court house in 1959. The bell was later removed when the hip-roof was constructed on the former flat-topped building and stored in early 1993.

On August 11, 1993, when the present cupola was added to the court house, the bell was placed, but the clapper is now missing and the bell does not ring,” Suit said.

Although the old bell no longer tolls the hour of the day, it stands as a time-honored piece of Fleming County’s past.