Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

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Charlottetown PEI

The tower of City Hall has a belfry from which hung the fire bell. Prior to 1888, city residents relied on the Town Crier to sound the alarm for a fire. His warning was passed by word of mouth as quickly as possible - not a very efficient way to warn citizens of a fire.

When the fire bell arrived, it was a great boon to the city and was first located in the old market building. It was referred to as "Big Donald" after the fire chief of 1875, Donald MacKinnon. When this bell cracked in 1877 it was returned to Boston to be recast. In order to receive some compensation for the cost of recasting, the foundry owners recast it somewhat smaller than the original. The bell was returned and put back in place, and at some point cracked again. Then, when it was rung to sound an alarm on the morning of February 20, 1884, it fell to pieces. It was sent away and recast a second time and again replaced in the old Market building. It was moved to the City Hall tower in 1888. The bell was used to alert the volunteer fireman of an emergency. In September 1952 an air horn, which is still used today, was installed for sounding fire alarms. The fire bell was retired in1966, to its present location, the front lawn of the Kent Street side of the building.