The Bells of St. Matthew's Cathedral, Laramie, Wyoming
For ninety-nine years the citizens of Laramie, Wyoming, have heard the pleasant tones of the bells of St. Matthew’s Cathedral chime 24 times each day. But the bells were not part of the cathedral until 20 years after the it was formally dedicated in 1896
The original small Episcopal Church, which was built in 1869, had a single bell installed in 1872 which was used to announce church services. It served the congregation well, even after the small church was moved to make room for the construction of the cathedral. That bell was given to St Mark’s Church at Hanna in 1922. The gift to St Mark’s was made possible because of the installation of the new chimes in St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
Begun in 1892, the plans for construction of St. Matthew’s proved to be too expensive to complete. The overall structure was downsized and the bell tower in the front and the two smaller towers in the rear were omitted.
The omission meant that the new cathedral had no bells, a somewhat necessary item for a cathedral which was, at the time, the seat of the Episcopal Bishop of the Missionary District of Wyoming and Idaho.
The cathedral remained uncompleted until 1916. Then, to memorialize his late wife Jane, local banker Edward Ivinson, gifted the church a large sum to complete the three towers and finalize the construction. In addition, Ivinson provided for the purchase of a set of bells and a clock to be placed in the 135-foot-tall tower at the front of the cathedral
The bells were purchased from Meneely & Company of Watervliet, New York. The company had been in the business of casting bronze bells since 1825 and had placed bells in many notable churches in the U.S. and Europe. They were perhaps best known for the bell that they cast for the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago. In total the company produced over 65,000 bells between founding and closure in 1952.
The bells that Ivinson paid for were eleven in total and were tuned in a manner that let them play essentially any song. Together they weighed about 15,000 pounds with the largest, the lower F, alone weighing 2,100 pounds. The bells chime the Westminster quarters automatically from the clock. More elaborate tunes are played from the keyboard of the cathedral organ with which the bells are connected by electric wires, a feature that was added in 1925 by Ernest Skinner, the organ builder.
Andrew Meneely came to Laramie in August 1917 with two workmen to install the bells in the tower. Their progress was reported on the front page of the Semi-Weekly Laramie Republican on the 25th. The article noted that the construction of the three towers, the bells and the Howard clock would cost about $60,000.
The largest bell was inscribed with a tribute to Jane Ivinson which read, “In Loving Memory of Jane Ivinson, the Founder of this St Matthew’s Cathedral Parish, the Towers, Chimes and Clock were erected in the Year of Our Lord 1916 by Her Husband Edward Ivinson who was for Many Years Senior Warden of the Parish.”
Immediately after the installation was complete, Mr. Meneely played five concerts on the bells for the citizens of Laramie on Saturday, Sunday and Monday the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of September. Over 15 different songs were played with both spiritual and secular music for the first four performances and secular music on Monday evening. Only one song was played three times, “America.”
Subsequently the bells were played in concert on two special occasions, one with local significance and one with national meaning. The first was on September 1, 1920, to mark the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S Constitution on August 18 which, compared to Wyoming, belatedly gave women the right to vote.
Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard climbed up the tower and rang the largest bell at one minute to eleven. The bell was kept ringing for five minutes. A concert was then played on the bells which commenced with “America,” followed by “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord,” “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” “Onward Christian Soldiers” and concluded with a second playing of “America.”
The second special occasion was on Edward Ivinson’s 92th birthday on September, 20, 1922 in recognition of his gift of the bells. The Laramie Daily Republican noted that a program of his favorite tunes was played and readers were asked to “speed a silent wish to Mr. Ivinson for other happy anniversaries.”
The bells of St. Matthew’s continue to be heard to this day. More elaborate songs are still played by Mr. Punch Williamson, organist at the Cathedral for national and local occasions. A special tolling of the bells was sounded on the 10 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and on Veterans (Armistice) Day. In a lighter hearted vein, tunes such as Ragtime Cowboy Joe and Home on the Range are heard during the Jubilee Days Parade.
By Kim Viner
St. Matthew’s Cathedral showing current bell tower. Courtesy photo.
The bell tower under construction. Source: Laramie Plains Museum.
The bells of St. Matthew’s awaiting installation. Source. UW American Heritage Center.