The Bell Arrives in 1897
Front
The new central school was officially dedicated on February 22, 1897. As part of the festivities, Cranbury’s Corona Dramatic Club presented the Board of Education with a bell forged by the prestigious McShane Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland. Per an April 2, 1897 article in the Cranbury Press, the bell was purchased for $60 (equivalent to approximately $2,000 in 2020) and weighed “800 pounds” (a bit of an exaggeration). The front of the bell contains the following inscription:
MC SHANE BELL FOUNDRY
BALTIMORE, MD 1897
The back of the bell is inscribed with the following lines of text:
PRESENTED BY THE CORONA DRAMATIC CLUB,
TO CRANBURY PUBLIC SCHOOL, FEBRUARY 22, 1897,
BOARD OF EDUCATION:
R.L. MCDOWELL, PRES. WM. F. PENINE, D.C.
A.M. DAVISON, W.E. BERGEN, W.A.S. CARR,
LEMUEL STULTS, REV. C.F. GARRISON, J.C. HOLMES M.D., ABRAM VORHEES
Note that the inscription erroneously spells William F. Perrine’s surname as “Penine”. According to a table contained in the 1900 McShane Foundry Catalog (shown below), the company sold seven models of “Chapel and School Bells”, ranging in weight from 100 to 250 pounds.
Reverse
While the invoice documenting the purchase has long vanished, Cranbury’s bell has a diameter of approximately 24”, an outside frame size slightly greater than 36” and a wheel diameter of 34”. Per the chart, this means that our bell weighs approximately 250 pounds. Of greater importance, when struck the bell produces a tone in the key of D-sharp!
Catalog Drawing
