Good morning! Happy Thursday! I can not wait until my sleeping patterns return to normal! Up until 1:30 am when I forced myself to bed (wasn’t tired)… then I toss until 2:00 am, sleep a bit wake up at 5:00 decide I need another hour and then wake up at 9:00 am. GAH! Too late to have breakfast when I have a lunch date at 11:30 am so hungry and holding…. LOL
Well… there is always coffee. 🙂
Last night I had a Library Board meeting. We were going over Strategic Planning before our regular meeting so I arrived int he parking lot at 5:00 pm for our 5:15 meeting. As I exited my car I heard the bells play their song on the hour like they always do. This got me thinking…
As long as I have lived in Brainerd which is *cough cough* for the most part all my life, the bells have rung on the hour in town. They play a little tune, it’s pretty, occasionally it is seasonal, and it is always on the hour.
However…
I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I don’t know if it starts at a certain hour and ends at a certain hour… I don’t know if it goes all night…. I had never really thought to ask.
We have one of the city council members on our board so I asked… and she told.
The bells are carillon bells and they are there because a woman with the last name McKay was a big part of Brainerd back in the day. She had served as a nurse in the war and upon her death requested there to be bells that chime from the court-house on the hour in memory of those who died in the Bataan. Her request was put is place and someone actually manages the music, programs the bells to toll out their song – different each hour.
Sadly, I know little more than that. I Googled this last night thinking I would find information on the bells and I found very little. There is an article from 2011 in our local paper but the archives will not open it and three calls to the Dispatch this morning to access the information could not help me. I could not even find images of the bells on-line, although other parts of Minnesota, like the Mayo Clinic proudly display theirs.
Ok – enough of my bell obsession. I like them because I think they are unique. They remind me a bit of what I would expect out of a town like Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls people… if you haven’t watched the show you must – all episodes are now available on Netflix). The bells are sweet sounding and I clearly wanted to write about them today….
Time for more coffee. Lunch date, projects to work on, and reading this evening. I will try to be a bit more sane tomorrow.
Book Journey 
If you are “into” bells yu might want to check out a Michigan Bell Collector and Dealer. His barn in Brooklyn is FILLED with bells of all sizes and histories. Don’t know the website for cerain byt Brosamer’s Bells should be pretty close. It’s fascinating.!
I just like the sound of them. 🙂 I really had not thought about it but felt maybe our town was unique to this fact that we have bells ring on the hour. 😀 Thanks for the info!
Hi Sheila! There’s also a wonderful tradition at the Champaign-Urbana campus of the University of Illinois with the carillon bells at Altgeld Hall. I had posted the Christmas video the U of I did which shows the reaction when there’s an unexpected interruption of the bells. It’s funny, because sometimes you don’t notice the clock chimes or the noon whistle, whatever the sound, until they suddenly goes silent. Here’s the link: http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-musical-interruption-carol-of-bells.html
Good point! I know I take the bells for granted, but I sure enjoy them 🙂
Ha-ha…love the Stars Hollow reference. I have been binge-watching it on Netflix. Does your town have an annoying “Taylor” character?
I loved the Gilmore Girls episode where Luke and Lorelai broke the bells.
LOL….. I cant say much… but I think ours is a female 😀 I kept trying to find a YouTube video this morning of Luke AND Lorelei with the bells but found nothing 😀
I love the reason for the bells. What a tribute.
I do too and I am impressed that all these years later the bells still do their thing 🙂
What a great story about the bells. That is wonderful the bells still continue to ring a tribute to the nurse.
Thanks for sharing.
Hope you had a great lunch.
I did and it was healthy too (just wait until I post the pics of what we ate while I was on vacation…. EEP! 😆
Great…will be looking forward to the photos.
Does the EEP mean you ate too much or odd things. 🙂
What a great story. I love these glimpse into other places. There are so many stories out there the world doesn’t otherwise hear.
Thanks Emma, I thought maybe it was a dorky post about bells but I am kind of obsessed wit them now 😀
That is a great story – and I love how it occurred to you to ask about the bells.
Here’s a little more info about Hortense McKay : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42791145
I love hearing about things like this, Sheila, and as sad as the reason is for the hourly bell-ringing, it’s also beautiful and gives the town character 🙂 I wonder why they won’t open the archives for you! *sigh*
I love that our town has honored her wish tot he point that someone is employed to take care of the bells and music… its very…. VERY 😀
Living in the city and not near a church with bells, I would have to side more with Luke Danes on the bell issue hahaha.
LOL! Its very mellow sounding, i wish there was a recording 😉