East Hampton, Connecticut was once “Belltown USA” — home to more than twenty bell companies.
Now there’s just one: Bevin Bells, the last bell manufacturer in the entire United States.
“There's been a tremendous change in the industry over the years since Bevin Bells first began in the early 1800s,” said Cici Bevin, the sixth generation of the family to run the company. “People were traveling by sleigh, and wagon and bells were a critical safety device.”
The founder, William Bevin, learned the art of bell-making as an indentured servant in the 1800s. He and his three brothers started the company in the 1830s.
As society's needs evolved, bell manufacturing evolved. Now, they make everything from Salvation Army bells to school bells to cowbells.
“Most cows don't wear cowbells anymore,” Bevin said. They have electric fences to keep them in. … But people didn't used to use cowbells to cheer at road races and ski races, and now they do.”
On the factory floor, hydraulic presses form metal sheets into bells. The company’s 25 employees do everything from operating the presses to stringing ribbons by hand.
“This is not an automated process,” Cici said. “There's no robots. These are human beings. So every bell is being handled individually, multiple times throughout the process. This is very much still an art form and a craft that people are doing.”
Bevin made the bell that Muhammad Ali used in most of his fights, the Good Humor ice cream truck bell and perhaps most famously, the bell from the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Remember — every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings?
The only thing they don’t make is musical instruments. These bells serve a purpose — they’re not what you’d hear in a handbell choir, for example. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a musicality to these bells; Cici was keen to show me the difference between brass and steel bells of all different sizes, pointing out how different shapes and metals produce different tones.
The old Bevin Bells factory, located down the road, burned down in 2012. But they were able to get up again in time for the holidays, their busy season, with some help from their neighbors and the state of Connecticut.
“It was a very quick turnaround,” Cici said. “I mean, it was May and, and we're gearing up for Christmas and the Salvation Army needs its bells and everything is happening. So we had to get back in business very quickly in order to save Christmas.”
Now, Bevin is fully rebuilt, and they’re putting out new bells soon to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
“We're, we're very healthy, we're growing,” Cici said. “Hopefully, Bevin Bells are here for another 200 years to come.”
