October 2025 – Iowa City’s Hummer’s Bell Returns Home.

Good News! After 175+ years, the 782-pound Meneely Foundry Bell that once rang proudly on the streets of Iowa City has finally made the long 1,200 mile journey back home from Salt Lake City!

Now, I must tell you, if you want to read all of the fine details of this Iowa City tale, I suggest you hop over to our webpage: Iowa City’s Hum-Dinger of A Bell Story. Here, you’ll find the background stories that include not only the history of this infamous 782-pound bell, but also the details about North Presbyterian Church, it’s founding pastor, Rev. Michael Hummer, and how the bell ended up with the LDS (Mormon) Church in Salt Lake City from 1850 to the present day.

This short article in the February 17, 1984 edition of the Iowa City Press-Citizen probably best summarizes the Hummer’s Bell Story. Note that 1849 is incorrectly assigned for this event. The more accurate date would be late summer 1848.

**For the complete Hummer’s Bell Story click here…**

Yes, you read it correctly. Iowa City’s Hummer’s Bell first hung in the belfry of North Presbyterian Church in 1848, and secretly left Iowa City in 1850 when California gold seekers headed westward. So, here, on this page, we’ll pick up the story around 1860 – ten years after the bell left Iowa City…

If we go back in time to about 1860, the last thing Iowa Citians truly knew about Hummer’s Bell was that four of their own – Eli Myers, James Miller, A. B. Newcomb, and David Lamoreaux – secretly removed the bell from its (second) hiding place in the Iowa River, packed it in a large hogshead (barrel), and, in the spring of 1850, headed westward, toward the California Gold Rush. Records then show that our bell thieves sold the Iowa City bell to the Mormon (LDS) Church for $600 after spending the winter of 1850-51 in Salt Lake City.

Interestingly, it’s during this same era (1848-1850), when the great persecution of the LDS Church in Nauvoo, Illinois was occurring. And when the Mormon Temple there was burned to the ground, one of the only items saved was the church’s bell. Much like our Iowa City bell, the Nauvoo Bell lay dormant for a season, safely held at Winter Quarters in Nebraska Territory (near today’s Omaha) until finally, it was transported to Salt Lake City in 1847. There, it hung proudly in Temple Square until the winter of 1849-1850, when bitter cold temperatures cracked the bell. And in a rather crude attempt to re-cast it, the Nauvoo bell was totally destroyed.

By the mid-to-late 1860’s, the Mormon leader – Brigham Young – and other LDS church leaders obviously recognized the worth of the Iowa City bell, and quite honestly, they may have understood, as well, that the bell had been stolen, so they apparently made several attempts (1865-1868) to return the bell back into the hands of its original owners.

Some records indicate that correspondence was initiated as early as 1855, with both First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City and Rev. Michael Hummer in Kansas, with one final letter being written by Young in 1868. Yet, because of a failure to raise enough money, apparently, all contacts were lost, and nothing ever came of the LDS attempt to return the bell at that time. Some records indicate that there was yet another attempt to return the bell in 1870, but like all the other earlier leads, nothing ever came of it.

According to LDS records, the Iowa City bell went into storage around that time (1870) and only saw the light of day in 1895 when Johnson County Civil Engineer Charles Irish, and his daughter, Elizabeth, asked if they might see the bell in order to confirm its existence. As the story goes, with the help of a trusty magnifying glass, Irish confirmed the Meneely Foundry markings, and when the two returned to Iowa City, his report was excitedly received by the members of the Johnson County Old Settlers Association. Elizabeth H. Irish – a successful businesswoman in Iowa City, penned her story on all this around 1915, but, once again, any efforts to rescue the bell, returning it to Iowa City, bore no fruit.

Around this same time (1909-1911), LDS leaders placed the bell on exhibit (above left), calling it a bell “brought to Utah in the early days.” In 1919, it was sent into a storage area in the Church History Museum on Temple Square (above middle), and by 1939, with all of the questions of ownership now faded, the bell was mounted (above right) and mistakenly referred to as the Nauvoo bell – which, as we mentioned earlier, was destroyed around 1850. This mistake continued into the 1950’s, when the bell was used ceremoniously, with the bell’s rich tone actually recorded (1961) and used regularly at the opening of many LDS radio & TV programming through 2005!

Which brings us, now, to today…

Finally, in December 2023, with a comprehensive investigation and 70-page report by LDS historians confirming the bell’s true identity, “corrective efforts” were made to return the bell to Iowa City. First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City “accepted the gracious offer of the return of the Hummer bell” and formed a task force in the spring of 2024 to begin the transfer process.

In 2024, the LDS Church had the bell independently appraised – which determined its market value at $35,000, and the LDS leadership team graciously decided to: 1) gift the bell to First Presbyterian, 2) help pay for its restoration by the Verdin Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 3) cover the transportation costs from Salt Lake City to Cincinnati to Iowa City! Here in Johnson County, more than $35,000 has been contributed by First Presbyterian’s members, friends, and its endowment fund to cover additional costs in mounting the bell outside the church’s fellowship hall off Rochester Avenue.

On October 5, 2025, Hummer’s Bell was dedicated and “officially” welcomed back home to Iowa City. Upon its return, First Presbyterian’s campus – 2701 Rochester Avenue – is now the site where the restored bell has been brought back into service, using state-of-the-art electronics to ring this beautiful 782-pound bell at regular intervals. We had the honor of being at the dedication ceremony and here are some pics from that special day…

***Pastor Nathan Willard conducts the Dedication Ceremony***

Now, in the courtyard of First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City are two bells: Hummer’s Bell (below center left) which hung in the first church building (North Presbyterian:1847-1848) and a larger church bell (below center right) that hung in the belfry of First Presbyterian’s second building (today’s Old Brick) from 1872 to 1877 before a windstorm toppled the steeple. In the October 5, 2025 ceremony, both church bells were rung – making for a memorable experience for all who attended!

The October 5 ceremony was a culmination of several years of cooperative labor between the good people of First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City and the good folks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) in Salt Lake City. Representing these two groups were: LDS Elder Kirt L. Hodges (below left), Iowa City historian Dwight Miller (below center), and LDS historian Keith Erekson (below right).

Yours truly (below left), and my good friend Jim Julifs (below right) – a pioneer in the saving of Old Brick – with the star of the day – Hummer’s Bell.