By William “Skip” Deegans
This past weekend, Lewisburg High School (LHS) alumni, town officials, and others gathered on Lee Street at the former high school to celebrate the erection of a state highway historical marker. The marker marks the site of Lewisburg’s graded school that was opened in 1878 and pays tribute to public education. One of the last remnants of the original school is the school bell that was cast in 1877 (shown in the photo). The bell was used to summon pupils to class, and according to Sam Banton’s history of LHS, “…young students felt it was an honor to pull the long rope that rang the bell.” As a fund raiser to buy band uniforms, the bell was purchased by local attorney and LHS graduate, George L. Lemon, and placed in the Andrew Lewis Park near the Lewis Spring.
The bell was cast at the Henry McShane & Co. foundry in Baltimore, Maryland. McShane left Ireland when he was 16 and found a job in a foundry in Baltimore. Nine years later, in 1856, he started his own foundry and became a preeminent maker of bells. When he died in 1889, the foundry had 1,000 employees and had manufactured 200,000 bells. The McShane Bell Company continues making bells today.
Sources: The Journal Of The Greenbrier History Society, WV Daily News, The Irish American Museum, Baltimore Magazine.
