Contact:
For information concerning the bells, the tower or the walkway, please contact:
Bells Preservation Society, Inc
C/O Wayne Campos, Treas.
18 Montgomery St.
Fall River, MA 02720
The Durfee Bells have been installed in the New Durfee High School Bell Tower 2021
The Durfee Bells represent a beautiful connection between the past and the present. A donation made it possible to have a two-octave carillon for Durfee High School in Fall River, MA. Having multiple octaves of bells will make Durfee’s chimes officially a carillon, a rare, massive instrument. B.A. Sunderlin Bell Foundry said that Durfee will be the only public school in the country to have an official Carillon.
The instrument is pitched in a 24cwt Eb. Nine bells are of Meneely from the late 1800’s of what was the original ten-bell chime. The smallest bell was stolen when the chime was removed from the old high school and left out on the lawn. That bell was later replaced by Meeks and Watson and the chime expanded with three others from the same firm. The ‘A’ bell was also added at this time in what was a secondhand McShane bell. All bells were tuned extensively on the outside of the soundbows to get the octave partials to balance.
Suffolk Construction installed the bells into the new bell tower and then work was completed to hook up the mechanisms so they could be played. The instrument will be able to function both electronically with a system of electromagnetic signals that can move the bells’ clappers, and manually, with a device like an organ.
Many thanks to the late Les Cory who started the Durfee Bells Preservation Society. Until his passing, Les was the driving force behind protecting the bells and seeing this project through completion. Without him and the committee, these bells may have been lost or repurposed elsewhere. This will now mark the closing chapter of an exceptionally long story.
For more information contact:
Bells Preservation Society
c/o Wayne Campos, Treas.
815 Montgomery St.
Fall River, MA 02720
Here are some videos of the bells, Please feel free to share: