By Angelique Piwinski, Yonkers Historian
Did you know that Yonkers is home to one of the most historic bells in the America with direct ties to Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln and more?
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Getty Square has been home for two hundred years to a bronze bell cast in 1804 by America’s first recognized Bronze Bell Maker, Col. Benjamin Hanks. This bell is believed to be the last remaining bell from Hank’s Mansfield Connecticut foundry that operated from 1790 until 1808. It has pealed on every occasion of marriage, funeral and celebration in Yonkers and has marked the end of every war for almost two hundred years.
The bell’s ringing mechanism broke several years ago and the 900 pound bell was frozen in a precarious 45 degree angle placing stress on the almost 150 year old bell tower and deteriorating the bell. The bell needed to be removed, restored and the ringing mechanism also restored, so it might ring once again!
Late last year the vestry of Saint Johns voted to remove it and to restore it. The only method of restoration was to send it to Holland to have a piece of it repaired and recast. This work has been completed, and the bell is being returned to St. John’s today, April 24th, 2018.
This bell has incredible historic significance when one considers its roots. Col. Benjamin Hanks cast the bell in his foundry in 1804. Born in Mansfield, CT in 1755, Benjamin Hanks served as a drummer during the American Revolution and took part in the march to Lexington in response to Paul Revere’s alarm and later was a drummer with General Israel Putnam’s Third Connecticut Regiment. He worked as an apprentice to Thomas Harland, a noted Norwich, CT clockmaker, and he is said to have spent time working in a foundry owned by Paul Revere. During and after the Revolutionary War, he continued in the metal-smith’s trade making spurs, buckles, beads, hilts, clocks and watches, as well as general silver and gold work. Around 1780, he established a bell and cannon foundry in Mansfield, which made the bell that was installed in St. John’s bell tower in 1818 and was the first bell ever to ring in Yonkers. (Remember that in 1820 Yonkers population was only 1,500 people!)
And if that isn’t enough, Col. Benjamin Hanks was also related to President Abraham Lincoln–Abraham Lincoln’s mother’s maiden name was Nancy Hanks!
The bell was a gift to St. Johns Church from Joseph Howland, a member of St. John’s Vestry and the owner of Philipse Manor Hall until 1813. Howland brought a man named Ebenezer Baldwin to Yonkers from Connecticut in 1818 to install this bell. Ebenezer Baldwin liked Yonkers so much he moved here. He then had a daughter named Jane Baldwin who would eventually marry Alexander Smith and convince him to move his carpet company from the Bronx to Yonkers in 1865. That carpet company would grow to be the largest in the world and employ over 7,000 people, almost one third of the working population of Yonkers in its heyday. That marriage would also produce a daughter named Eva Smith, the preeminent Patron “Saint” of Yonkers who gifted Yonkers with St. John’s Hospital, the Sprain River Tuberculosis Hospital, The Sherman Dispensary (free healthcare for the poor), The Hollywood Inn for workers, two churches, the complete restoration of Philipse Manor and the Cochran Collection of Presidential Portraits.
St. John’s Church was established in 1693 and the church building dates to 1752 with an expansion in 1872. It enjoys status both as a religious institution and an important military institution serving as a neutral hospital for both sides during the American Revolution.
Saint John’s Episcopal Church will be open to the public for the Sacred Sites Open House on Saturday, May 5th from 1 – 4 p.m. Yonkers historian Angie Piwinski will give public tours of the historic building from 1 – 3 p.m., and Saint John’s Organist Jurhee Hong (MM and Performance Diploma from Manhattan School of Music) will play a half-an-hour Organ Recital at 3 p.m. including works by Nicolas de Grigny, J.S. Bach and Cesar Franck. All are welcome! Refreshments will be served. Please join us! (www.yonkerschurch.org; 914 963 3033)
