150-year-old bell stolen from California school, officials say

A 150-year-old bell stolen from a California elementary school has little to no monetary value but enormous sentimental value, educators say.

“It’s one of the only things that we have that has lasted through time,” teacher Catherine Walther told KRCR. “The bell, I think, is the only thing that we have still from way back then.”

Security videos show a man and woman carrying the bell away from Manzanita Elementary School in Gridley early Monday, Nov. 15, Superintendent Gary Rogers wrote on Facebook.

The bell, believed to be made of cast iron, has scant monetary value, Rogers wrote in a later Facebook post. Videos show two people walk past the school at 2:30 a.m., then return at 2:50 a.m. and load the bell into a car.

“The bell is invaluable to our school as it represents the 150+ years we have been serving the students of our community,” Rogers wrote.

Walther told Action News Now that she has fifthgeneration students in her class at the school.

“So their parents, grandparents all went to this school and so the bell is kind of the thing that ties these generations together because they all share the memory of the bell,” she told the station.

Butte County Sheriff ’s Office investigators are looking into the theft.

“I just think it’s ridiculous that people would care to take something that means so much to so many people,” Walther told KRCR. “Bring back the bell. Just bring back the bell. It’s ridiculous.”

In his Facebook post, Rogers asked anyone with information on the theft to contact sheriff ’s investigators at 530-538-7321 or the school at 530-846-5594.