Jireh College Bell Contributes to War Effort
The Lusk Herald, June 11, 1942
1700-lb. Old Jireh College Bell to Be Feature of Salvage Parade
Leading the Salvage Festival parade Saturday morning will be the old 1700-pound bell which used to ring from the tower of Jireh College.
Seven men went out to the farm of C. W. Pfeifer Monday evening to load it on the Buckingham pickup truck and on getting it back to Lusk it was placed on an ancient Model T Ford truck which will carry the bell in the parade. The bell will be hung so that it can be tolled.
The bell weighs 1700 pounds without the heavy mountings necessary to hold it. It was donated to Jireh College and sent from the East in 1910, but was used only a short time because it was found too heavy to the building. Since the razing of the building in 1925 the bell has been standing at the farm home of Mr. Pfeifer who suggested giving it to the Red Cross to be salvaged to help win the war. This suggestion was heartily agreed to by Mrs. Ruth Atkinson, widow to the late Daniel B. Atkinson, president of the college, and Mrs. Ella Watson, a trustee.
When the new Congregational Church was erected in Lusk, placing the bell in its tower was considered but the bell was found too heavy for those walls also.
Although the foundation of the college still stands and the corner stone still stands at the home of Mr. Pfeifer, the salvaging of the bell closes further the history of the college.
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Colonna, Maxine, & Atkinson, Ruth Ford, (1963). Jireh College Stirred Embers of the Past, a historical analysis of available records and recent memoirs: (pp.35). Valliant Company.
In the early part of the year 1910, a very fine bell was presented to the college by an eastern church. (The name of the church is unknown.) The bell was hung in the college tower and used during the summer normal term of 1910. But alas! It weighed 1700 pounds and was too heavy for the tower. On October 10, 1910, it was ordered removed from the building by directors of the land Company. Students mounted the bell on planks and placed it outside near the entrance. It stood there by the steps until 1925, when it was moved to the Pfeifer ranch. In 1942, the bell was sold to the St. James Church of Holland, Minnesota, and the proceeds of $200 donated to the Red Cross. Sometime previously it had been placed on the streets of Lusk on a Model T Ford truck as salvage and paraded on the streets of Lusk and there the bell tolled its last music in Wyoming.
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The Lusk Herald, June 18, 1942
55 Tons Scrap Iron Brought in for Salvage Festival
A carload of scrap iron, over 40 tons, was carried in the parade Saturday of the Niobrara Salvage Festival, and before the end of the day more than 55 tons had crossed the scales in Lusk besides that not weighed and tossed on the Red Cross pile.
More than a hundred boys and girls and adults participated in the parade operating every kind of vehicle from toy wheel barrows and tricycles to trucks and tractor-drawn vehicles.
Old Jireh Bell Inspiring
The old 1700-pound Jireh College bell had been mounted on an old model T truck and the truck decorated carrying the American Red Cross flag because the bell had been donated to the Red Cross. Miss Gertrude Ann Kuhn and Miss Edith Christian, in their nurse uniforms stood at each side of the bell, and their appearance together with the tolling of the fine old bell made the most inspiring entry of the parade.
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The Lusk Herald, June 25, 1942
Writes Concerning Old Jireh College Bell
Mrs. Dale O. Sander of Ney, Ohio, daughter of the late Dr. Atkinson of Jireh College, writes that she was very much interested in the June 11, 1942 Herald containing the articles about Jireh College.
She says “I remember quite vividly the efforts of the college to use the bell and finally given up and placed on the ground by the front entrance. It was a favorite spot for taking pictures.”
The Lusk Herald, August 13, 1942
Old Jireh Bell Sold to Church
The Old Jireh Bell will still ring for a religious cause. St. James Church of Holland, Minn. has arranged to purchase the bell for a new church erected there.
Contact was made through a Lutheran church publication. Two other churches also inquired about the bell. The $200 to be received for it will go to the Red Cross.
Red Cross Chairman George Earl Peet said a $25 deposit has been made to hold the bell and that it will be shipped as soon as the Holland church officials advise him.
The Lusk Herald, August 27, 1942
Boosters for Harrison Fair Visit Lusk
The old Jireh College Bell led another parade Wednesday evening before being shipped away. Harrison Fair boosters came up to Lusk with their band and bell and fire truck were paraded through the streets before the band played a concert at the Conoco Station across from the Ranger Hotel.