Historic American Fork bell to peal again

AMERICAN FORK — The peals of a historic bell will once again ring out over American Fork, city officials announced at the rededication ceremony Tuesday for the original City Hall.

The ceremony celebrated the resurrection of one of the city's oldest buildings and had so many attendees that people lined the stairways leading up to the historic building's top floor, where the ceremony was held.

The newly renovated building, constructed in 1903, displays the bell that originally hung in the building's bell tower more than 100 years ago. Purchased for $211.17 just 36 years after the city's founding, the sound of the bell reflected the community's emotions, said Karen Adams of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in a speech at the rededication ceremony.

"It acted as the very pulse of our community," Adams said.

Sorrow, joy and disasters were relayed to the citizens through the bell, Adams said. It rang to call the people to worship and to mourn the dead; its peals announced the end of wars and warned children of a 9 p.m. curfew in place decades ago.

After the City Hall began to deteriorate, the bell was given to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, who kept the bell until the renovation was completed.

The restoration attempted to maintain the original building as much as possible, including its ornate, metal ceiling, said Allen Roberts, the principal architect for the project and former architectural historian for the state.

Restoring the ceiling, which had been hidden for years above a lowered ceiling, cost approximately $60,000, and about 60 percent of the tin and zinc panels are the originals, said Roberts, of Cooper Roberts Simonsen Architects.

The ceremony also celebrated the completion of "American Fork City The Growing Years," a history of the city that has been 33 years in the making.

Written by Betty Spencer, the 370-page book details the city's history, beginning in the Great Depression.

As a former journalist, Spencer covered American Fork City Council meetings for 10 years and, while conducting research for the book, spent three days a week for seven years reading archived City Council meeting minutes.

Once, while reading through a meeting's minutes, she came across the story of a family living in the city during the Great Depression.

"A mother, a father and eight young children had been evicted from their home and were living in a tent in a field," she said.

Citizens brought this issue before the City Council and a local LDS bishop said he would take care of the family. Spencer said this story is what prompted her to begin the history with the Great Depression.

Both the restoration and the book were praised by Mayor Heber M. Thompson.

"With the right vision and the right skill and, of course, some money, you see this is a beautiful heritage restoration," he said. "I think it's a wonderful legacy that we have preserved.

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E-mail: rwestenskow@desnews.com