A FAMILIAR RING

Historic bell returns to Izard County, Ark., community

MELBOURNE, Ark.—For more than half a century, Lunenburg hasn’t been much more than a set of gravel crossroads and quiet cow pastures. But the tiny settlement in rural Izard County near Melbourne is much louder now after the return of a piece of history that has been missing more than half a century.

Roger Harvell, a native of Lunenburg, grinned from ear to ear as he enthusiastically pulled back and forth on the new nylon rope that hung from the old schoolhouse’s belfry ringing the old cast-iron bell just as it did more than a century before.

The crowd of more than 30 cheered as Harvell rang it a second time for good measure.

“I never thought I would hear it ring again,” Harvell said during a ceremony May 21 to celebrate the bell’s return to Lunenburg.

The Batesville Daily Guard reports that the bell dates back nearly 150 years in the community, where it first called order to meetings for the Odd Fellows Lodge from 1878 until the schoolhouse was built and opened in 1940, where it signaled the beginning and end of each school day until the district was consolidated with nearby Melbourne in the early 1950s. Shortly after, it went missing.

But thanks to a collaborative effort from several people with ties to the community, the bell is back home after more than 50 years.

Harvell is part of that group that has worked on the recovery and restoration of the original school bell and

hosted a special ceremony to celebrate the bell returning home.

Chris Williams, another Izard County native who helped with the collaborative effort, presented a special plaque recognizing those who were part of the bell’s recovery and restoration process.

As the crowd fellowshipped and enjoyed a potluck dinner, Harvell pointed around the room to nearly each person and recalled their parents’ and grandparents’ ties to the tiny community and the historic structure where they were gathering to celebrate a piece of their history being returned.

Attendees shared stories they’d heard passed about the town’s heyday. In 1910, the town boasted a population of 654—with three stores, a cotton gin, its own post office, as well as a saloon.

Harvell’s father, Owen Harvell, was a founding board member from when the school was built in 1940.

“Dad taught there for several years,” he said. “He was teaching there in ‘51 when the school consolidated with Melbourne—and then he began teaching there.”

Along with Owen Harvell’s, the names of the two other founding school board members, Burt Tate and Will Smith, are spelled out with marbles, set in concrete on the old rock schoolhouse’s façade, which bears signs of weathering as well as vandalism.

The only building that serves as a landmark for Lunenburg, the schoolhouse also served as the home to the No. 12 school district from 1940 until 1951. Prior to that, a wooden structure stood on the same foundation and served as the Odd Fellows Lodge, which was chartered in 1873. The bell was installed in the lodge five years later and was used there until the schoolhouse was built in 1940.

However, like many townships in rural, post-Great Depression northern Arkansas, the quiet community grew even quieter when the school district was consolidated with Melbourne in 1951.

The old building quickly fell into disrepair and the old school bell vanished—not to be seen again for over half a century.

Williams pointed to John Teague of Melbourne as being instrumental in locating the old bell and it being returned to where it stood back in 1878.

“John Teague was the one who got a lead on the person who had the bell and was able to secure it and donate it back to the Lunenburg community,” explained Williams.

Harvell explained that he and the group aren’t interested in seeking restitution from whoever took the bell over 50 years ago.

“It’s water under the bridge. We’re just happy to have it back.”