Students in the VCSD middle and junior high schools are getting a history lesson as a new sound signals the end of one class period and the beginning of the next. Speakers in the building now play the sound of the Meneely Bell.
Over the summer, Technical Support Specialist Leon(Lonnie) Spath recorded the bell, which usually sits quietly in the Clayton A. Bouton lobby. After hearing it, Superintendent Frank Macri had the idea to use the sound to signify class period transitions. Students in grades 6-12 now have a daily historical reminder and a new connection to Voorheesville students from the late 1800s.
The following information comes from the posters beside the bell in the high school foyer:
Meneely school bell
“This historic bell was cast by the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy, New York, in 1867 for the steeple of a new brick and stone schoolhouse that stood by the stream side of our current elementary school.
The bell weighs 247 pounds and is tuned to E. It was taken down and boxed up in a crate when the Voorheesville Elementary School.
The bells made in the greater Troy area were almost always composed of 78% copper and 22% tin.”