Old bell holds a part of county history
W
hen Dewey Emfinger courted his future wife, Beatrice, in 1940, he always knew when it was time for them to part ways. The bell of the Houston County Courthouse clock tower was his signal.
"When he heard it strike 10 o"clock, he knew it was time to go home," said Sam Emfinger, the couple's son and now president of Emfinger Steel.
Their sweet little dating ritual led Dewey Emfinger to buy the bell 20 years later when the county's original 1905 courthouse was torn down. A Montgomery demolition company was hired in 1960 to clear away the stately old courthouse at the corner of Oates and Main Streets. Dewey Emfinger rented out a crane for the demolition. He offered the Montgomery company's owner $100 for the bell from the courthouse clock tower.
The offer was rejected, but a few weeks later the Montgomery businessman changed his mind and sold the courthouse bell to Dewey Emfinger for $100.
Sam Emfinger was 2 years old at the time but knows the story all too well.
With his parents now deceased, Sam Emfinger has agreed to turn the 100-year-old bell over to the Houston County for display at the courthouse. His father had been approached over the years about donating the bell but refused to let it go. For years the bell hung from a frame at Emfinger Steel on Old Webb Road.
But, Sam Emfinger said he thinks the county will take good care of the historic chime.
"My father, I think, wanted to keep the bell for sentimental reasons," he said. "I think they'll make it a good home and more people will be able to see it and appreciate it."
Emfinger has entered a 20-year lease with the county for the use of the bell. Should the county choose to stop displaying the bell, it will go back to the Emfinger family.
"When we renovated the courthouse, we tried to keep some of the historical things..." Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver said. "That bell and what it represents to the old courthouse is just a part of our history."
Culver said the county hopes to have a dedication on Oct. 28 - the date when the 1905 courthouse was opened.
The bell weighs more then 700 pounds and is nearly 3 feet in diameter at its mouth. It's dated 1905 and was crafted by McNeely & Co. of West Troy, N.Y., for the E. Howard Clock Co. - both well-known companies in their trades. McNeely constructed bells for churches, governments and universities all over world. And the E. Howard Clock Co. crafted the clock tower on the New York Life Insurance building in New York City.
Wade Parrish and Associates, the Dothan architects responsible for designing the courthouse renovations completed in 2003, have agreed to design a display for the bell.
"Our office is making every effort to seamlessly blend it in with the renovated courthouse," Parrish said. "We want it to oook like it's a part of the place."
Copied from the Dothan Eagle.
Links to other articles
Bell Returns to Downtown Dothan
Original Location of Bell