26th Annual New Year’s Eve Bell ringing at the museum.
December 24 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
The 26th Annual New Year’s Eve Bell ringing at the museum! Come ring in 2026 with the historic collection of bells at the Delta County Museum! Doors open at 11:30 PM, cookies and sparkling cider are served, admission is free. 3rd and Meeker Street, Delta. PS! Take time to view the newest exhibit at the museum – the history of Video games!.
History of the BELLS at the museum
LESLIE J. SAVAGE BELLS
STEAMBOAT BELL
This bell was used on the Steamboat QUEEN OF THE YAZOO that traveled on the Yazoo River in Mississippi from the year 1852. Trips were also made up and down the Mississippi. Missouri and Ohio Rivers.
SEARS ROEBUCK BELL
This bell was purchased from Sears Roebuck and Co. on September 15. 1886 by Mr. and Mrs. William Waller of Murphysboro, Illinois. It was used as a farm dinner bell for them for over sixty years and was purchased from Mrs. William Waller by Leslie J. Savage. June 2. 1967.
CARBONDALE SCHOOL BELL
This bell was bought and installed in the upper Cattle Creek Schoolhouse near Carbondale. Colorado in 1886. the same year the schoolhouse was built It had been there until it was purchased at a public sale for $150.00 by Leslie J. Savage on July 4. 1966.
PILOT BELL
A delicate bell. too small to be heard very far, which was used by the pilot on a Mississippi river boat to signal the helmsman of the shifting river depths.
D&RG TRAIN BELL
Shining brass bell from engine that traveled over MarshaIl Pass to Gunnison. Colorado.
PLANTATION BELL
Silver color plantation bell. It was used to call the workers in from the fields at noon and at night. If it was heard at any other time there was either a child born or a fire. Used on Normandy Plantation. near Parkdale,. Arkansas.
CATHEDRAL BELL
Cast iron. 36″ in diameter. weighing over 1.000 pounds.
Cast at Liverpool. England; shipped to Dublin. Ireland. It came into the possession of Leslie J. Savage’s grandfather. When the Irishman came to the United States he brought the bell too; first to Georgia, then to Alabama and finally to Arkansas. Leslie J. Savage had it shipped to Crawford many years after he came.
STEAMBOAT BELL
This bell was used on the ROBERT E. LEE Steamboat on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Memphis. Tennessee after the Civil War. Cast by Buckeye Bell Foundry. 1895.
DELTA’s CENTRAL SCHOOL BELL
Made by M.C. Shane Bell Foundry; hung in the bell tower of the Central School Building in Delta. Building built in 1885; demolished 1963. Today, it hangs under the tower from 4th Street Lincoln School Building, moved to the museum when this Lincoln School building was razed.
PEA GREEN BELL
This bell was donated to the museum by a Pea Green citizen where it had remained mounted in her residence yard for many years. She claimed that it once was placed on a Pea Green school. This bell was not part of the Savage bell collection.
