City's first school bell rededicated: Event coincides with National Preservation month

Redmond Mayor John Marchione, city workers and representatives of the Redmond Historical Society gathered Thursday to celebrate the rededication of the city’s first school bell.

Although it’s no longer functional, the refurbished bell, which has been treated to prevent rust, is now installed behind the Public Safety (Redmond Police) Building, 8701 160th Ave. NE, facing the lush green lawn of the Municipal Campus and the Sammamish River Trail.

Before ringing the bell with a hammer, Marchione quipped that it had a “story like the Shroud of Turin where it shows up, then disappears.”

He said the bell was built in Cincinnati in 1890 for Redmond’s first schoolhouse and in 1892, came to a location where Anderson Park now stands. The early Redmond settlers saw it as a proud symbol of education.

The bell moved to a few private properties in later years, then to Montana and back to Redmond.

Marchione thanked Redmond Historical Society officers and members, including former Redmond Mayor Chris Himes, for their hard work in preserving the community’s rich heritage and precious artifacts. He also thanked 4Culture, King County’s arts and heritage organization, for funding of the sign that tells the bell’s story.

In celebration of National Preservation Month, Marchione and Jayme Jonas, senior planner for the City of Redmond, have asked Redmond residents to participate in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “This Place Matters” campaign.

Download a “This Place Matters” sign — there’s a link on the City of Redmond’s Web page, www.redmond.gov. Then hold the sign as you are photographed in front of a Redmond history location that you especially enjoy.

For example, Jonas was photographed in front of the Justice White House and a group of Redmond Historical Society members were photographed in front of the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center.

You can view their photos here.

After you’ve shot your “This Place Matters” photo(s), e-mail them to Jayme Jonas at jjonas@redmond.gov and they’ll be added to the Historical Society’s collection.

You also can post your Redmond photos on the National Trust’s Web site.

Contact Redmond Reporter Reporter Mary Stevens Decker at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com or (425) 867-0353, ext. 5052.

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