*Location:

   Grace Lutheran Church (ELCA)
   North Queen and East James Streets
   Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
   LL: N 40.04601, W 76.30691

Site locator map

*Player:

   Richard Kline, Chief Chimer
   - and -
   nine other church people

   11De1920 ded. M.H.Mettee,
     of Christ Church, Baltimore

*Contact:

   Grace Lutheran Church
   517 North Queen Street
   Lancaster, PA  17603-3097
   T: 717-397-2748
   E: pastor@GraceLutheranChurch.com

*Schedule:

   Before and after Sunday services;
   Sundays at 6pm

*Remarks:

   Gift of J.Frederick Sener, as a
   memorial to his family.
   Original added semitone was flat 7th;
   the old church bell (1897) was put on
   top of the chime frame, and remains
   swingable.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (chimestand) of 15 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell (excluding sub-bourdon) is F  in the middle octave
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   Keyboard range: (D )F G   /(D )F A  5
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 1995
     with bells made by Petit & Fritsen
   Prior history:
     In 1962, the instrument was enlarged to 12 bells
       by an unknown maker
       (1 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 1920, the instrument was begun with 10 bells
       by McShane      (except for 1 older)
       There was one added semitone
   Auxiliary mechanisms: W1    
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2021

On the church Website, the Chimers are mentioned on the Music Groups page (under Ministries -> Music), where a 1-minute audio clip can also be found.  The About This Building page reports the acquisition of the bells in three stages.

A short news article (Dec.2021?) about Christmas Eve ringing has a gallery of 16 photos, including bells, chimestand and tower.

A local newspaper article (Lancaster New Era, Monday 6 Dec 1920, p4) reported the arrival of the bells.  Later that week, a much longer article in the same paper (Lancaster New Era, Saturday 11 Dec 1920, page 1 and page 10) included descriptions and photos of the bells as well as complete programs of six 30-minute concerts that were scheduled as part of the dedication weekend.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the McShane bellfoundry.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Petit & Fritsen bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Other chimes which qualify as mini-carillons.

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 PA.

   This page was built from the database on  4-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2021/08/15
   and on technical data last updated on 2021/12/25