The Church recently announced that “The southwest corner of Temple Square has reopened to the public. Landscaping is still underway, but visitors can enjoy seeing three newly restored monuments.” As I have walked into the Tabernacle for rehearsals of the Bells at Temple Square each week, I have been a bit sad to see that those monuments do not include my favorite one (and a companion as a bell at Temple Square), the Relief Society Memorial Campanile. Often referred to as the Nauvoo Bell, the bell in the Campanile has a fascinating history that doesn’t actually include Nauvoo.
As the Nauvoo Temple neared completion in 1845–1846, a bell was installed in its tower. Colonel Thomas L. Kane described this as “a steam-boat signal bell” of unknown origin.[1] (It was long thought that the Nauvoo Temple bell was a gift from English converts, but the bell was in use before any bell that Wilford Woodruff tried to procure in England would have arrived.)[2] The bell served a variety of purposes—Heber C. Kimball, for example, recorded that when the temple was being used for sacred religious rites between December 10, 1845, and February 7, 1846, each session of the temple endowment was announced with the ringing of the temple bell.[3] One group of historians explained the significance of this use: “For years, the Saints had toiled to build their temple in the midst of poverty. Now, with joyous hearts, they could hear the beautiful sounds of a bell calling them to the house of the Lord to receive their washings, anointings, and endowments. Of all the tasks this bell would be called on to perform, this would be the finest and remain longest in the hearts of the people—a call to come out from the world and to prepare for eternity.”[4]
Perhaps more important for the community’s immediate needs, however, the Nauvoo bell was used as a warning signal and a call to gather. Nauvoo and surrounding Latter-day Saint communities were under threat of violent attacks from other citizens. For example, on June 14, 1846, Nauvoo’s militia heard “the ringing of the Temple Bell” because a large mob had assembled at nearby Golden Point. Around seven hundred armed men gathered on the green behind the temple with their firearms in response to the bell and the mob dispersed. Similar scenes repeated themselves over the next several weeks, culminating in the “Battle of Nauvoo” on September 12, with the bell sounding the warning of the coming battle. After the battle, on September 18, the invaders climbed the tower and rang the bell to announce their victory. Within a month, Latter-day Saints had retrieved the bell and took it with them on the trek west, attached to a wagon in Charles C. Rich’s company.[5]
This same bell served the Latter-day Saint communities in Winter Quarters and then in Salt Lake City. It was placed on Temple Square early on and was used to call the Latter-day Saints to worship, to announce community events as a signal bell, and as part of patriotic celebrations. Unfortunately, this bell cracked in the severe winter of 1849–50 and was melted down. Around that same time, a bell that had formerly been used at the First Presbyterian Church of Iowa City (known as the Hummer Bell, after a pastor named Michael Hummer) was purchased from a group heading to California.
There were concerns about ownership of the bell. It turned out that the immigrants who brought the bell had stolen it in the midst of a dispute over ownership. During a dispute over his final pay from the church, Michael Hummer and James W. Margrave attempted to steal the bell to use it in Hummer’s new church in Keokuk, Iowa. During their attempted theft, a group of men from Iowa City stole the bell out from under Hummer and Margrave, hiding it in the Iowa River near the mouth of Rapid Creek. When the Iowa City men traveled west to join the California gold rush in 1850, they felt that the dispute had not been settled and took the bell with them and sold it to Asa Calkin in Salt Lake City, who purchased it on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This background contributed to the bell being left in storage until 1939. At that time, it was put on display in a museum near Temple Square. When it was brought back into public, it was confused with both the Nauvoo Bell and a bell used at Brigham Young’s schoolhouse, gaining publicity as the Nauvoo Bell. Beginning in 1966, the Relief Society Memorial Campanile became the home of the Hummer Bell on Temple Square, positioned along the west wall of Temple Square, between the Assembly Hall and the Tabernacle. The tower also housed multiple sculptures, including 1942 works by Avard Fairbanks, adding to its stature as a notable monument. The bell rang hourly and was used on KSL Radio and KSL-TV in Utah to mark the hour on their programming for many years.[6]
While it may not be the actual Nauvoo Bell, the Hummer Bell and the Relief Society Memorial Campanile have served the Church and community for far longer than the Nauvoo Bell even existed, taking on a life in its own right. And before the Bells at Temple Square was founded in 2005, the Hummer Bell was the most prominent bell at Temple Square. Now, unless it is planned to appear elsewhere, it seems that the Bells at Temple Square may be the sole bells left onsite.
[1] Thomas L. Kane, The Mormons: A Discourse Delivered before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: March 26, 1850 (Philadelphia: King and Baird, 1850), 8, 11.
[2] See Shannon M. Tracy, Glen M Leonard, and Ronald G. Watt, “The Nauvoo Temple Bells,” BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 58: Iss. 2, Article 5 (2019). Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol58/iss2/5.
[3] Heber C. Kimball’s Journal: November 21, 1845 to January 7, 1846, introduction by Jerald and Sandra Tanner (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm, [1982]), December 10, 1845, to January 7, 1846.
[4] Shannon M. Tracy, Glen M Leonard, and Ronald G. Watt, “The Nauvoo Temple Bells,” BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 58: Iss. 2, Article 5 (2019), 118.
[5] Shannon M. Tracy, Glen M Leonard, and Ronald G. Watt, “The Nauvoo Temple Bells,” BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 58: Iss. 2, Article 5 (2019), 123–127.
[6] See Shannon M. Tracy, Glen M Leonard, and Ronald G. Watt, “The Nauvoo Temple Bells,” BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 58: Iss. 2, Article 5 (2019), 129–170.
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