Index to carillons and chimes by Hanks/Niles

The Hanks/Niles foundry, now closed, provided bells for three chimes in the USA.  See the bottom of this page for additional historical notes on the origin and development of this bellfoundry and on the various names used by it.

The sites are listed in order by year of installation.
Following the year is an indication of the founder's contribution to the instrument:

Finally, there is an indication of the type of instrument:
  chime     - chime (any mechanism)
  [...]     - instrument is defunct; link is to "sites that are no more"

George L. Hanks, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1842?-49

Cincinnati Bell Foundry, Geo. L. Hanks, prop.,
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1849-59

CINCINNATI - M                : USA - OH     1850 C  [chime]
   Mechanics Institute 
CINCINNATI - STT              : USA - OH     1851*C  chime
   St.Teresa of Avila RC Church 
   * moved to this location in 1955

Niles Works Bell Foundry, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1860-1869

DAYTON - F                    : USA - OH     1869 F*  chime
   First [English] Lutheran Church (ELCA) 
   * 8 of 9 oldest bells; some dated 1868

Historical Notes:

George Lucius Hanks, born in the state of New York in 1813, was a nephew of Col.Benjamin Hanks, who had operated one of the earliest regular bell foundries in the United States, at Hanks Hill in what is now Storrs, CT, but was then part of the town of Mansfield.  (Individual bells had been made in America even before Benjamin's birth, but it's not certain that any of their makers operated a bellfoundry as a regular part of his business.)  Col.Benjamin and his son Julius (George's cousin) had moved to Gibbonsville, NY in 1808 to start an enterprise which included the making of bells; one of their apprentices was Andrew Meneely, who eventually bought Julius's property in Gibbonsville and started the first Meneely bellfoundry.

The Hankses were a prolific and energetic bunch, with many of the men undertaking a wide variety of industrial enterprises and many of the women marrying men who were similarly inclined.  Col.Benjamin's son Truman was involved, in partnership with Col.Benjamin's brother Alpheus, in iron foundries in Gibbonsville and Troy, NY, as well as in Hartford, CT and Cincinnati, OH.  While in Troy, they also operated for a few years the instrument making and bellfounding business which Julius had moved there from West Troy; then they handed it over to Julius' son Oscar.  (It must have been while Alpheus and Truman were in NY that George L. was born to Alpheus.)

In Cincinnati, Alpheus and Truman Hanks invested in the industrial enterprises of Jonathan Sands Niles and his brother James.  Jonathan Niles married George's older sister, Maria Hanks, thus becoming a nephew to Alpheus and cousin to Truman as well as brother-in-law to George.  George moved to Cincinnati in the 1830s, possibly before he married Julia A. Bunce of Hartford, CT in 1836.  It's not certain when he began casting bells, though certainly it was by 1842, before he began using the name Cincinnati Bell Foundry (see above).  The bells which he made for two chimes in 1850 and 1851 (listed above) were cast with the assistance and guidance of Francis Mayer, who had cast the bells for the first American-made chime in 1848, and would later operate his own bellfoundry for many years in St.Louis, MO (though he made no more chimes).

Shortly after the sudden death of George L. Hanks in September 1859, the name of his foundry was changed (see above); this may reflect that it was part of the industrial enterprises begun by the Niles brothers.  (However, the Niles brothers had sold out their industrial interests in 1857-58, leaving their name behind as they retired to Hartford, CT.)  On January 1, 1870, the Niles Works Bell Foundry was sold to Vanduzen & Tift for $5000, payable in three annual installments.

Philena Hanks, oldest child of Rodney Hanks (brother of Alpheus and Col.Benjamin), married Andrew Meneely; one of her younger sisters married a partner in the Jones bellfoundry of Troy, NY.  These two women were both first cousins of bellfounders (Julius and George L. Hanks) as well as being wives of bellfounders.  Marcia Hanks, younger sister of Truman and Julius, married Isaac C. Oothout of West Troy, NY, probably a relative of a partner of Andrew Meneely.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the bellfounding interests of Col.Benjamin Hanks were reflected in his younger brother and in at least eight of their children, nieces and nephews (or spouses thereof), extending to at least one grandson and three grand-nephews.

The interconnections between the Hanks family and the other aforementioned bellfounders and industrialists are shown in a different manner on a Hanks genealogy page.

Return to Indexes to bellfoundries.

This index page was built from the database on 16-Dec-03 and last updated on 20-Sep-06.

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