The sites are listed in order by year of installation (unknown first).
Following the year is an indication of the founder's contribution to the instrument:
chime - chime (any mechanism)
non-trad* - carillon with non-traditional mechanism,
but chime size at the date cited
(...)... - instrument was replaced; link is to the same site
[...] - instrument is defunct; link is to "sites that are no more"
PHILADELPHIA - STST : USA - PA 1853 C [chime]
St.Stephen's Episcopal Church
LANCASTER - T : USA - PA 1853 C (chime)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of
The Holy Trinity (ELCA)
LOWELL - STA : USA - MA 1857 C chime
St.Anne's Episcopal Church
STORRS - STM : USA - CT 1860*C chime
St.Mark's Episcopal Chapel
* originally installed elsewhere
NEW HAVEN - SH : USA - CT 1860 C [chime]
Suburban Home School
DETROIT - CC : USA - MI 1864 C chime
Christ Church Detroit (Episcopal)
(also called Old Christ Church)
HARRISBURG - Z : USA - PA 1868 F chime
Zion Lutheran Church (ELCA)
HARRISBURG - Z : USA - PA 1869 E chime
Zion Lutheran Church (ELCA)
BALDWINSVILLE : USA - NY 1870 C [chime]
M.E. Church
CHICAGO - MA : USA - IL 1870 C chime
Michigan Avenue Baptist Church
HAGERSTOWN : USA - MD 1870? C [chime]
Trinity Lutheran Church
ORANGE - OV : USA - NJ 1870 C chime
Orange Valley Congregational Church
COHOES - STB : USA - NY 1871 C [chime]
St.Bernard's Church
MILWAUKEE - STJ : USA - WI 1871 C chime
St.James Episcopal Church
WASHINGTON - MM : USA - DC 1871 C [chime]
Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church
LEBANON - CC : USA - PA 1872 C (chime)
Christ Church (Presbyterian/PCUSA)
NORTH ADAMS - STF : USA - MA 1872 C chime
St.Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
ASTORIA : USA - NY 1873 C chime
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
EVANSVILLE : USA - IN 1873 C [chime]
Catholic Trinity Church
MADISON - GC : USA - WI 1874 F non-trad*
Grace Episcopal Church
POTTSVILLE : USA - PA 1874 C chime
Trinity Episcopal Church
DOVER : USA - NH 1875 C chime
St.John's United Methodist Church
WILLIAMSPORT - T : USA - PA 1875 C chime
The Maynard Chime
Trinity Episcopal Church
JIM THORPE : USA - PA 1876 F chime
Episcopal Parish of St.Mark & St.John
(formerly St.Mark's Church)
city previously named MAUCH CHUNK
DETROIT - STPP : USA - MI 1879 C chime
SS.Peter & Paul RC Church
ALLENTOWN : USA - PA 1884 C chime
St.John's United Church of Christ (UCC)
(was St.John's Reformed Church)
The Jones bellfoundry was started in 1852 by James Harvey Hitchcock and Eber Jones, in the industrial city of Troy, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River in the state of New York.
James Hitchcock had previously worked in Andrew Meneely's bellfoundry in West Troy, NY, on the western bank of the Hudson River River above the city of Albany. Hitchcock was related by both descent and marriage to the Meneely family, and at the time of Andrew Meneely's death in 1851 he was foreman of that bellfoundry. It seems likely that Hitchcock's move to Troy was prompted in part by an unwillingness to work for Andrew's sons, who were younger than he was.
(Hitchcock was also related by marriage to the bellfounders of the Hanks family, although the nature of that relationship is not clear. One source states that James H. Hitchcock was married to Philena Hanks Meneely's younger sister Juliaette. But the various Hanks genealogies (outlined here) indicate that Philena's younger sister Julia was married to a man named Conant, and that it was their sister Abigail Irena who married Alexander Hitchcock of West Troy.)
Little is known of Hitchcock's partner, Eber Jones.
The foundry was initially located on the northwest corner of Adams and First Streets in Troy, but in 1854 it was relocated to the southwest corner.
This firm later claimed that the chime they made in 1853 for St.Stephen's Church, Philadelphia (see above), was the first chime made in America; they may have been unaware of other competitors for that claim. (See Milestones in the history of chimes in North America.)
James Hitchcock retired from the business in 1857, after which the name of the firm was changed to "Jones and Company, The Troy Bell Foundry." The use of "& Co." suggests that Jones must have found other investors, i.e., the foundry did not become a sole proprietorship.
Eber Jones died unexpectedly at age 51. This may be what prompted the further change in the name of the foundry to The Jones & Company Troy Bell Foundry, a rather curious nomenclature. (Some bells are known that read simply "The Jones & Company"!) Eber's son, Octavous Jones, then took over management of the company, which eventually closed about 1887. Perhaps it was unable to compete successfully with the two Meneely bellfoundries.
Some of the information above is taken from an article by Neil Goeppinger in "The Bell Tower", V60#2, Mar-Apr 2002, p.5.
More about Jones foundry history:
Some individual Jones bells:
Additional information about the Jones foundry can be found on a Website about the Meneely Bicentennial, defined based on the birthdate of Andrew Meneely.
Return to Indexes to bellfoundries.
This index page was built from the database on 30-Sep-01 and last updated on 31-Aug-06.
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