A very short, simple ceremony recently marked the dedication of Meadville First Baptist Church’s historic Revere Bell.
“It’s been a long journey,” said Paul Oppenlander, church administrator and project manager for the restoration, before the unveiling of the restored clock on Flag Day.
The 1830s bell, cast at the Paul Revere Foundry in Boston, returned to the church on May 16 after restoration by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Last August, the bell was lowered from the church’s bell tower at Diamond Park to go to Verdin, a world-renowned manufacturer of cast bronze bells, for restoration.
The bell, restored to its original bronze luster, is now on public display on a stand outside the church office at 353 Chestnut St. It is available to the public on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., as well as at the church on Sunday mornings. .
According to Oppenlander, the bell will remain on public display there for the next two to three years before being reinstalled in the church’s bell tower.
Restoration work on the bell tower itself is expected to take place in spring 2025.
The complete restoration of the bell and tower is estimated at approximately $220,000.
In early June 2023, First Baptist Church received a competitive grant of $10,000 from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Historic Preservation Grants program for the bell’s restoration. The clock restoration itself cost approximately $20,000.
That grant secured First Baptist Church a competitive $100,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission for the project. The state grant requires local matching funds.
Oppenlander also credited Tom Law and Debbie Corll with supporting the project. Law is a member of the Church with technical expertise, while Corll helped write the grants to secure funding.
“Without them, the project would not have come about as quickly as it did,” Oppenlander says about the DAR grant. “The DAR, Tom Law, Debbie Corll, you all made it possible. Each of you played a role.”
