The first Meneely bell foundry was established in 1826 in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York, by Andrew Meneely, a former apprentice in the foundry of Benjamin Hanks. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, and it remained a family operation until its closure.
The second Meneely bell foundry was established in 1870 by a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, across the river in Troy, New York. Initially he was in partnership with George H. Kimberly, under the name Meneely & Kimberly; this second foundry was reorganized in 1879 as the Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company, then later as the Meneely Bell Company. Like its related competitor, it remained a family operation until its closure.
The two foundries competed vigorously (and sometimes bitterly) with each other, and their products cannot be confused. Together, they produced about 65,000 bells before they both closed in 1952.
List of known locations of Meneely foundries bells from the First Meneely Foundry:
Saint Michael's Church (Rochester, New York) has two bells, cast in 1847, the larger bell weighing 1,015 pounds, the small bell weighing 525 pounds.
First Presbyterian Church of Avon, New York. Church built in 1812, 33", 700 pound Meneely Bell dated 1848.
Bard College Bell Tower, Annandale On Hudson, NY. Bell Made by Meneely Bell Company, Troy, NY USA 1860 Bronze Bell
Saint Andrew's Catholic Church in Norwood, New York has a 3,100 lb bell of ingot copper and East India tin in a 70-foot (21 m) tower.
Saint Anthony's Church in Albany, New York
Ovid Federated Church, Ovid, NY (Meneely & Co, 1880)
Central United Methodist Church in Endicott, New York
Jamesville Community Museum, former Episcopal church built in 1878 in Jamesville, New York
Saugerties Lighthouse, Saugerties, NY
Church of the Ascension, Rockville Centre, NY. (1873 bell) Cast for Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, NY. Sold to Meneely and re-bought in 1888.
Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack, NY
Carlisle Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, New York
Sherburne-Earlville Central School, Sherburne NY 13460 Dated 1834 , A.Meneely West Troy NY
First United Methodist Church of Westfield, New Jersey
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Newton Presbyterian Church in Newton, New Jersey
Blvd East, Weehawken NJ
Residence Inn by Marriott, West Orange, NJ. The bell is located outside of the hotel.
St. Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey
St Peter's Episcopal Church, Tunkhannock, PA, USA
Saint Peter Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania
Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge , PA. The National Patriots Bell Tower carillon at Valley Forge National Historical Park
Washington Memorial Chapel. The permanent location of the "The Justice Bell" (aka "Women's Liberty Bell") which was forged in 1915 and dedicated to the women's suffrage movement.
Bulkley Memorial Carillon in Danbury, Connecticut
Torrington Fire Department Headquarters, Torrington, Connecticut. Meneely & Co. 1900. Bell originally hung in the tower at the headquarters station built in 1900. The station still stands and is now private property. The bell was removed and placed in the lobby of the present headquarters station next door at 111 Water Street and is accessible for public viewing.
St. Mary Catholic Church, Bethel, Connecticut.(this bell was in the original church, located on Greenwood Ave. in Bethel but was taken out of the steeple and placed on display behind the "new" church on Dodgingtown Road)
Bloomfield, Connecticut
Rhode Island
Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island
First Baptist Church of Arlington Massachusetts The bell was cast in 1903 and is 5' in diameter. The bell is manually struck on special occasions only.
Emanuel Lutheran Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Millbury Baptist Church, Millbury, Massachusetts. Bell made by Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company, Troy, N.Y. USA. A.D. 1884 - Bronze Bell
Memorial in Watertown, Massachusetts
Maine
Mattawamkeag Church of God in Mattawamkeag, Maine (Dated 1900)
Wilder Center, Wilder, Vermont
Saint Peter's Catholic Church, Rutland, Vermont
Thompson Hall, University of New Hampshire - Durham, New Hampshire
Downtown Athens, Georgia (copy of original liberty bell)
Prattville Male & Female Academy (Prattville, AL)
Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina
Eastern State Hospital Medical Library, Building No. 3, Williamsburg, Virginia is the location of a Meneely Bell carrying the manufacturer's date of 1886. It was originally utilized to signify curfews and special events at the nation's oldest psychiatric hospital, established in 1773. You may visit the Eastern State Hospital website at www.esh.dbhds.virginia.gov
Lovely Lane Chapel at Epworth By The Sea on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Chapel built in 1880 and the bell was cast in 1881.
Lupton Hall Carillon at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia
Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, Spotsylvania, Virginia
First Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1886, replacing the original bell of about 1859
Atlanta First United Methodist Church (Originally Wesley Chapel), Atlanta, GA. Cast in 1850, it survived the civil war while most of Atlanta's other bells were melted down to make cannons. Rings every Sunday morning at start of worship.
Alexandria City Hall, Alexandria VA. The inscription cast on the bell reads "Steeple, clock and bell presented to the City of his nativity by an esteemed citizen. Alexandria, VA, A.D. 1872"
Joseph Dill Baker Memorial Carillon in Baker Park, in Frederick, Maryland
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church (now a retreat house), Hillsboro, Maryland
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Federal Point, Florida
St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church - Charleston, South Carolina. Set of 10 bells cast in West Troy in 1901. Three bells added in 1966. All bells refurbished in 2008 by Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry,
City of Grand Rapids 1878 Fire Bell, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan. First hung in a temporary wooden fire tower at Ottawa and Pearl Sts from 1878-1888 until it is installed in the tower of City hall (1888-1969). It now stands at the entrance of the Grand Rapids Public Museum since 1995.
Immanuel Lutheran Church in Madison, Nebraska
Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church, Sherman, Texas
University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa dedicated in 1926
King Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio
Minneapolis City Hall, Minneapolis, MN - contains 10 bells from 1896 and 4 more added in 1923. Bells chime every quarter-hour. Live performances are regularly held by the Tower Bell Foundation.
Laingsburg United Methodist Church, Laingsburg MI (1881 bell) www.laingsburgumc.org
A 1919 Meneely bell located at Woodbury Elementary School, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 44120. The bell was cast in 1919 and weighs 2,000 lbs.
Illinois
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Pontiac, Illinois...purchased in the late 1860s.
Second Congregational Church, Rockford, Illinois (cast in 1865; in 1891, moved to the church's current location)
Second Congregational Church, Westfield, Massachusetts (cast in 1867; in 1962, moved to the church's new building but mounted on the grounds outside)
Lombard, Illinois, in the Maple Street Chapel (1870)
Naperville, Illinois, on display at Naper Settlement
Rock Island Arsenal Clock Tower in Rock Island, Illinois has a 3,538 lb bell stamped "1867 Meneelys’ West Troy, N.Y."
Lacon Congregational Church, Lacon, IL (bell cast in 1890)
St.Patrick's Catholic Church, Camp Grove, IL. Dated 1904. Church closed in 2013, bell now property of Peoria Catholic Diocese.
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, formerly Deutsche Congregationale Zion Kirche (German Congregational Zion Church) in Portland, Oregon
San Jose State University in San Jose, California "Cast to commemorate the California State Normal School in 1881, this 3,000-pound bell was rung at 8 a.m each morning until the earthquake that stilled its voice in 1903. In 1910, the bell was re-installed in the main building of the newly constructed Tower Hall, where it was rung on special occasions. In the early 1960s, seismic concerns led to its retirement and relocation at ground level." -Source credit: plaque on San Jose State campus.
Church of the Nativity, Menlo Park, California
Cathedral Church of St. Mark, Salt Lake City, Utah [2]
St. Helena Baptist Church, Jamestown Chapel, Jamestown, island of St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. Bell from West Troy cast in 1852. Unsure of weight, but approx. height and diameter at bottom 70 cm.
Saint Anthony's Church (Svateho Antonina) in Strossmayerovo Namesti, Prague, Czech Republic (see below)
Canada
St Lawrence Hall, Toronto, Ontario. (This bell, cast in 1849, is unused and virtually inaccessible in the cupola of St Lawrence Hall.
Wesley Knox United Church. Woodville, Nova Scotia. Canada.
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Montreal. Dated 1917. Still in daily use.
Roddick Gate McGill University in Montreal
Saint Thomas Anglican Church in Orrville, Ontario, inscription: "Meneely & Co West Troy NY - I was given by Friends in Depot Harbour in the Diocese of Algoma 1901 "When I do ring, God's praises sing" "When I do toll, Praise heart and soul"
List of known locations of Meneely foundries bells from the Second Meneely Foundry:
Connecticut
United Congregational Church, Bridgeport, CT 1926
Most Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York.
Assumption Church - Staten Island, NY. Assumption - St. Paul Parish. Bells dedicated August 6, 1922.
SS. Cyril and Methodius Russian Orthodox Church in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. Inscription on the bell - MENEELY BELL Co., TROY N.Y., 1909
St Joseph Catholic Church in Waite Park, MN, USA. Cast in bell: Meneely Bell Co, Troy NY 1918.
Firemen's Memorial Lot, Charlotte, North Carolina; Bell stamped Meneely & Co., West Troy, N.Y. 1881 (bell is for display only)
First United Methodist Church of Westfield, New Jersey. A single 2,048 lb bell stamped Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company, Troy NY and dated 1886. Controlled to ring hourly, by a clock mechanism made by the E. Howard & Co of Boston, MA from the same year. It was originally in an earlier wooden church steeple and in 1910 was moved to its current stone church steeple.
Christs Church at Ballard Corners, Sparta, Michigan; Bell stamped Meneely's Troy, N.Y. 1869
Van Norden Carriage House at the Jay Heritage Center Rye, New York; bell stamped "Meneely Bell Co. Troy, NY 1907"
First Presbyterian Church of York, Pennsylvania, 1861, purchased by Philip Albright Small and Samuel Small
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, Irwin, PA one bell installed shortly after 1880.
The Phelps School's "Victory Bell" in Malvern, Pennsylvania
A Meneely & Kimberly bell remains in front of the Cortland Elementary School in Cortland, Ohio. The school was once named Cortland Union School as cast on the bell 1876. This bell will soon be relocated to the Cortland High School.
A Meneely & Kimberly bell dated 1877 is located in and used at the First Presbyterian Church of Cadillac, MI
Davis County Courthouse (Meneely & Kimberly Bell Co., 1879) in Bloomfield, Iowa
St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Ogden, Kansas. Bell dated 1910
St. Patrick Church, Lowell, Massachusetts. Bells dated 1905
St. Johns Episcopal Church, Kula Hawaii (Maui) Bell dated 1909
Soldiers Chapel - Schofield Barracks; Wahiawa,Oahu, Hawaii. Church steeple built 1913. Bell dated 1911.
West Virginia University at Parkersburg, Parkersburg, West Virginia. Bell cast in 1902
The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, Chapel Hill, NC. The twelve original bells were cast by the Meneely Bell Company in the early 1930s, and supplemented by two bells from Petit & Fritsen, Belgium in 1998.
Bell in the name of Miss Elsie Priest, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Monastery of Annunciation, located in West Morava Canyon, Serbia, dated 1920
A Meneely & Kimberly bell is in daily service in the Parish Church of San Andres Xecul, Totonicapan, Guatemala.
Canada
Christ Church Windermere, Ontario, Canada. Inscription on the bell- (one side)"In memory of Charles Henry Mockridge, Priest and Doctor, February 25th 1913". (other side) "Meneely Bell Company, Troy, NY, 1914"
Sainte-Marthe-De-Vaudreuil Catholic Church, Quebec, Canada.
St. Andrew's United Church in Markham, Ontario
Tower Clock of the old Parliament building, Ottawa, Canada. Meneely & Kimberly dated 1875. Damaged by fire of 1916.
Saint Patrick's Catholic Church, Fallowfield, Ontario, Canada. (http://www.stpatricksfallowfield.com) Maneeley & Kimberly Bell cast in 1875. Still in daily use.
The Columbian Liberty Bell was cast by Clinton H. Meneely's foundry for display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The bell disappeared while on tour in Europe.
The Meneely bell that hangs in St Anthony's Church in Prague was purchased by the Mid-European Union in October 1918 to commemorate the independence of Czechoslovakia after World War I and donated to the group's president, Thomas Masaryk, who became the head of the country's provisional government and, in 1920, the Czechoslovak president. The bell cost $2,000 and weighed 2,542 pounds (1,155 kg).
