The Conklin Memorial Chimes

*Location:

   Southwest tower
   First United Methodist Church
   North Church and West North Streets
   Decatur, Illinois, USA
   LL: N 39.84422, W 88.95790

Site locator map

*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   First Methodist Church
   201 West North Street
   Decatur, IL  62522-2221
   T: (217)423-9711   F: (217)423-5025
   E: office@decaturfirstumc.org

*Schedule:

   Seldom played because of fears for the
   tower structure.

*Remarks:

   Memorial to Abram Wesley Conklin by his
   wife, Anna Conklin.  Tenor swung.
   Added semitones: flat 7th & sharp 4th.
   Electrified 1960, chimestand removed.
   (Both front towers and the north tower
   are empty.)

*Technical data:

   Electric-keyboard chime of 11 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is C  in the middle octave
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   Keyboard range:     C D   /    NONE  
   There are two added semitones
   There is no practice console
   The whole instrument was installed in 1910
     with bells made by McShane     
   Auxiliary mechanisms: nCS1  
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2001

The church Website has contact information, but no history, no mention of the bells, and no photo of the building.  There is a Facebook presence.

The installation of this chime was reported in the Decatur Herald and Review of 17 Nov 1910, Thu, p10, with local labor supervised by A. J. Mattey employed by McShane.  Inscriptions and quotations were included.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the McShane bellfoundry.

Ranking among all North American chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American chimes by weight (pitch).
Ranking among all North American chimes by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in IL.

   This page was built from the database on 30-Jan-22
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/01/27
   and on technical data last updated on 2021/09/30