“Scene of Bell Mystery: Rip Van Winkle Bell Ends 23-Year Junket”. This newspaper headline, with a photograph of our very own Meekins Library, jumped out at me as I was poking through a scrapbook put together by Jean Hathaway and Esther Hathaway Munson, from 1946 to 1961. This was the first thing in the scrapbook. I had to find out what happened!
The short article, datelined Williamsburg, August 12, 1946, after the headline, starts out: “Williamsburg Welcomes Appearance of Old Button Shop Bell On Library Steps From Which It Disappeared July 4, 1923”.
It continues: “The bell which rang for many years from the Old Button Shop belfry, North Main Street, returned to town today as mysteriously as it vanished 23 years ago. The old bell was found this morning on the steps of the Meekins library, from whence it vanished 23 years ago. At the time of its disappearance the bell was in the custody of the center faction of the night-before-the Fourth revelers who had ‘borrowed’ it from the Button shop to aid in the merry-making that night in 1923.”
“About 1 that morning, the group was greatly dismayed by its sudden disappearance from the library steps. It was evidently taken during a moment of unguarded hilarity. Searching was to no avail, and the whereabouts of the old bell had remained a mystery as the years went by. It had been heard to ring several times on July 4 since 1923, always from some distant hill. It passed through town noisily following the election of Herbert Hoover in 1928 and again on V-J day last year.”
“The bell weights about 95 pounds and was cast from bronze alloy by W. Buckley of New York. It has a good tone and will be recalled by older townspeople who cherished the memories as it rang for many years. Many relics were sent for scrap during the early days of World War II, but the Old Button shop Bell escaped that fate and has returned to appear in the Williamsburg pageant, ‘Pages of History’.”
World War II had just ended in 1945 and Williamsburg was about to celebrate its 175th Anniversary with three days of activities like sports and a pageant and a parade and a ball on August 31st and September 1st and 2nd, 1946. The town welcomed the bell’s return. Add to the bell’s story in the comments below. Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt
Posted to Facebook 9/22/2022