The bell next to the Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Idaho. For more than a century, the ringing of the bell was heard for the community’s joys, alarms, tragedies, and jubilations. Made in Troy, New York, in 1884, the bell is 102 inches in circumference. A few months later, it was shipped west, making the long journey directly to Malad, to remain permanently on Courthouse Hill on the Presbyterian Church grounds.
The bell was used to summon students to the Mission School and by the community for fire alarms and other emergencies, including when the Deep Creek dam north of Malad washed out, flooding the city. It was also used by the city to notify the residents of curfew time when that ordinance was being enforced. It was rung every Sunday to announce the time for worship services.
For several years in the 1970s and 1980s, the wooden structure holding the bell was so fragile that the bell could not be rung for fear of it falling from its time-weakened structure. In ______ Jake Hess rebuilt the bell tower as his Eagle Scout project, and the bell is now heard again every Sunday, summoning people to worship at “The Little Church on the Hill.”
Source:
“History of the First Presbyterian Church, Malad City, Idaho,” 1982.
Griff L. Jenkins, “History of the First Presbyterian Church, Malad City, Idaho,” December 1959.