The ringing of the bell

Bridgeport metallurgist brings back the peals for South Loop church

09/23/2009 10:00 PM

By MICAH MAIDENBERG
Editor

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John LaMonica (left), head of the Butler Street Foundry, and a helper test the device that again will ring Second Presbyterian’s 125-year-old bell.
Photos courtesy of Martin Cheung



It was 1884 when the peals created by a 4,100-pound cast iron bell first rang out from Second Presbyterian Church.

The bell and tower that held it were meant to honor and memorialize George Armour, a member the powerful meatpacking family, who died in 1880. Armour’s children paid for the improvements.

In recent years, Armour bell has been silent. A hammer-shaped instrument, pulled by an 80-foot rope dangling into the church that knocks against the bell’s sides, finally cracked four years ago, stressed by time and age.

That changed Sept. 13, when church members gathered for a ceremonial re-ringing of the 125-year-old bell. They were also honoring the Bridgeport-based metallurgist John LaMonica, who repaired the broken ringing device at his Butler Street Foundry.

“I restored the bell and made it ring,” LaMonica said.

LaMonica heard about the project through a friend named Martin Cheung, whose mother attended Second Presbyterian, at 1936 S. Michigan. Cheung had been photographing the church and its restoration.

“Martin told me what he was doing. I said, ‘You know, Martin, I respect your mother and out of respect for her, if there’s anything I could add at the church, let me know,’ ” LaMonica said.

As Mike Belletire, a church trustee and chair of its facilities committee recalled, within five minutes of learning about the broken ringing device, LaMonica committed to fixing it as a gift to the church.

LaMonica did not merely weld the broken piece together. Wanting to do a “period restoration,” he riveted the instrument together using what’s called a flitch plate.

“The process I used to join the metal was the process used when the bell was created,” he said.

Besides his friend Cheung, LaMonica was motivated to contribute his time and materials (an estimated $4,200 worth) because of longstanding ties with the Armour legacy.

At what was once called the Armour Foundation, at the Illinois Institute of Technology, LaMonica studied precision instrument machining. It was there, working with teams of scientists on Department of Defense and other government projects, that he learned the skills that serve him today.

“This is the second time I got to give back to Mr. Armour,” he said. “I think we all need to give back a little more.”

When rung, the bell resonates throughout the South Loop, according to Belletire, in a D flat tone.

“We will certainly ring it on Sunday mornings and on other ceremonial occasions, whether religious or civic,” he said.

Contact: mmaidenberg@chicagojournal.com


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By Martin Cheung from Chinatown
Posted: 09/29/2009 12:24 PM

It was good to see the church get some attention as a historical landmark. As for my families 55 year relationship there, I can only remark " Save Chicago's History " even one item at a time. We can all do our part to retain some history as well as develop future landmarks. Don;t be afraid to help a little when it helps so much!!allegra tion Martin Cheung