Index to chimes by Vanduzen

The Vanduzen foundry, now closed, provided bells for various chimes throughout 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 (unknown first).
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)
  great     - great bell (over 4 tonnes weight) not in a chime or carillon
  (...)...  - instrument was replaced; link is to the same site
  [...]     - instrument is defunct; link is to "sites that are no more"

Buckeye Bell Foundry, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

The chimes in this group are of unknown date.  As their dates are discovered, they will be moved into the proper group and sequence below.

CLINTON                       : USA - ??     1??? C  [chime]
   First Methodist Church 
LOUISVILLE - TT               : USA - KY     1??? C  [chime]
   Trinity Temple United Methodist Church

Buckeye Bell Foundry, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1837-1848

Proprietor: Geo. W. Coffin

Buckeye Bell Foundry / G. W. Coffin & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1848-1866

Proprietors: Geo. W. Coffin & Geo. R. Dudley
OHIO RIVER                    : USA - OH     1856 C  [chime]
   Floating Palace (circus showboat)

Buckeye Bell Foundry / G. W. Coffin & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1866

Proprietors: Geo. W. Coffin, E. W. Vanduzen & C. T. Tift

Buckeye Bell Foundry / Vanduzen & Tift, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1866-1891

Proprietors: E. W. Vanduzen & C. T. Tift
CINCINNATI - E/1              : USA - OH     1871 C  [chime]
   Cincinnati Exposition of 1871
CINCINNATI - E/2              : USA - OH     1872 C  [chime]
   Cincinnati Exposition of 1872
PHILADELPHIA - CR             : USA - PA     18?? C  [chime]
   Circus

Buckeye Bell Foundry / The Vanduzen & Tift Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1891-1894

Incorporated 1891; Proprietor: E. W. Vanduzen
NASHUA - FC                   : USA - NH     1893 F  chime
   Mary Park Nutt Memorial Chime
   The First Church, Congregational (UCC)
OAKLAND - M                   : USA - CA     1893*C  chime
   El Campanil 
   Mills College 
   * cast for a different site; installed here in 1904

Buckeye Bell Foundry / The E.W.Vanduzen Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1894-1950

Proprietor: E. W. Vanduzen
NASHUA - FC                   : USA - NH     1894 E  chime
   Mary Park Nutt Memorial Chime
   The First Church, Congregational (UCC)
JAMESTOWN                     : USA - NY     1894 C  chime
   St.Luke's Episcopal Church 
ATLANTA - CSE                 : USA - GA     1895 C  [chime]
   Cotton States Exposition
Cincinnati                    : USA - OH     1896 -  great
   St.Francis de Sales Catholic Church
CINCINNATI - W                : USA - OH     1897 C  (chime)
   Westwood United Methodist Church
NASHVILLE - T                 : USA - TN     1897 C  chime
   Tulip Street United Methodist Church 
INDIANAPOLIS - STP            : USA - IN     1900 C  [chime]
   St.Paul's Lutheran Church
MORGANTOWN                    : USA - WV     1904 F  chime
   Wesley United Methodist Church 
MORGANTOWN                    : USA - WV     1904 I  chime
   Wesley United Methodist Church 
CINCINNATI - W                : USA - OH     1905 R  chime
   Westwood United Methodist Church
PORTLAND - LC                 : USA - OR     1905 C  [chime]
   Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition
QUINCY                        : USA - IL     1905 C  chime
   Arethusa Helen Woodruff Memorial Chime
   St.John's Episcopal Church 
DAYTON - F                    : USA - OH     1907 E  chime
   First [English] Lutheran Church (ELCA) 
SCOTTDALE                     : USA - PA     1907 C  chime
   First Regular Baptist Church (ABC) 
LOS ANGELES - HP              : USA - CA     1908 C  chime
   Otis Memorial Chimes 
   "The Bells of Hollywood"
   Hollywood Forever Memorial Park 
   (was Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery)

 

Historical Notes:

The Buckeye Bell Foundry was established by George Washington Coffin in 1837.  That foundry name was maintained throughout more than a century of operation, in spite of various changes in proprietorship, which were reported in a Vanduzen catalog issued in 1922.  (See headings above.)  The name "Vanduzen" has been selected for this index because it best represents the fairly short portion of this foundry's history during which chimes were being produced.

A photo of a 1907 Vanduzen chimestand shows the maker's nameplate clearly.  (But not all of their chimestands carried nameplates.)

A Vanduzen & Tift catalog published in 1883 (#11) claimed the ability to manufacture chimes, but listed only four that no longer existed (see 1856, 1871, 1872, 18?? above).  The chimestand illustrated in that catalog might have been suitable for lightweight chimes, but does not resemble those actually produced between 1893 and 1908.

An E.W.Vanduzen catalog published in 1922 (#20-D) confirms production of most of the chimes listed above between 1893 and 1908.  Oddly, it claims Cincinnati/Westwood twice, but omits Atlanta and Oakland.  It also claims production of the two surviving chimes made by the Hanks/Niles bellfoundry, which Vanduzen purchased some years after those two chimes were made; possibly this claim was based in part on Vanduzen's expansion of the Dayton chime in 1907.  Unfortunately, this catalog, like that of 1883, includes no dates, so these have had to be obtained from other sources.

The last three complete chimes made by Vanduzen incorporated a unique engineering development - double-action chimestands and transmissions.

When this foundry closed, about 1951, the Verdin Company of Cincinnati bought its remaining assets.  Although Verdin did not keep the foundry open, they do have some records of the foundry's production after 1937, and may be able to answer inquiries on the subject.  (All foundry records for previous years were destroyed by the great Ohio River flood of 1937.)

Single bells:

A few single bells from this foundry can be found on the Web, and illustrate other aspects of the foundry's work.


Return to Indexes to bellfoundries.


This index page was built from the database on 11-Nov-01 and last updated on 13-Nov-06.

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