For Whom the Bell Tolls

City Exchange Bell

In every town there are the places or objects that carry a certain holiness to them. These are places and objects that are not only religious buildings but places that might be labeled secular too. Yet they are sites that hold a meaning that is greater than the site to its citizens. These places may change from time to time but they usually endure for decades if not centuries with a special quality to them.

One of the monuments of Savannah that held meaning to the citizens of Savannah is the old Exchange Bell. The bell was rung as a call for the ending of the work day. It was rung on special occasions such as when a president visited.  It was rung when ships that were late and thought that they may have been lost are first seen sailing up the Savannah River. Its rich tones were heard in celebration of American victories during the War of 1812. It was rung to call citizens up to fight a fire. It was rung to announce city council meetings. It was involved in the daily ritual of the citizens and was the harbinger of great events in the life of the citizens. As Savannah grew it no longer was possible to hold the local newspaper, city government, and customs staff in one building. The Exchange Building became obsolete and was torn down to make way for the gold domed City Hall we now have. We also saw the building of a Customs House across from the new city hall and the newspaper too built.

But in the tearing down of the Exchange Building the question was raised what to do with the Exchange Bell. No one wanted to see this bell leave the public life. This bell’s historic significance was it was the oldest in Georgia. It was constructed in 1802. It was imported from Amsterdam and hung in the City Exchange Tower in 1804. But its prominence in the hearts of Savannah was even more important. 

In 1902 with the destruction of the City Exchange Building the Bell was acquired by the Rourke Iron Works, where it hung until 1940, but the tower holding the bell came down in a hurricane. When the tower fell the bell could have passed into obscurity but Walter L. Mingledorff acquired it, and gave it to the Chamber of Commerce.

It was decided that they would create a replica of the old Exchange belfry to be constructed on Bay Street, just east of the old Cotton Exchange Building. The replica of the tower in which the historic bell presently reposes was erected in 1957 through the combined efforts of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, the Pilot Club of Savannah and the Savannah-Chatham Historic Site and Monument Commission. The new monument was to memorialize to Mabel Clair Speth Hand, first president of the Pilot Club of Savannah (1932-4) and president of Pilot International (1935-6) who was influential in seeing the project through.

The bell stands today as a monument to communication before cell phones and emails. It stands as a treasured artifact that the citizens of Savannah could not let pass into oblivion.

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Replica of old City Exchange Tower with bell inside

Savannah City Hall