DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's how this story goes. Out on the high plains of Lipscomb County, a bell has been ringing longer than the town itself has existed, and that's exactly the kind of detail worth pulling over for. The Rev.
Grant L. Hayes was the first Methodist circuit rider in this area, and he wasn't the type to sit still. In 1902, he founded a church in Ivanhoe, Oklahoma, three miles to the north.
Then in 1904, he founded the Stillwater Church, six miles east, on the Texas side of the line. Two congregations, two buildings, one tireless reverend crisscrossing the prairie. Now, none of that would matter quite so much if the Santa Fe Railroad hadn't come along and changed the math.
In 1917, Follett originated right there on the Santa Fe line, and when a town appears, people tend to follow. The two congregations, the Ivanhoe church and the Stillwater church, merged here at Follett. They brought something with them when they came.
That old Ivanhoe church bell had been cast in Ohio back in 1907, and it was not about to be left behind. It was relocated to the Follett building site in 1919. Then in 1924, it was installed in the first church tower.
And you might think that's where a bell's story ends, hung in a tower, doing its job. But in 1976, when a modern church built in 1961 needed something more than brick and lumber to feel complete, that bell made one more journey. It was brought over as a link from the historic past to the new building.
Cast in Ohio in 1907. Still ringing in Follett. Some things earn their place by simply refusing to be left behind.
What the marker says
The Rev. Grant. L. Hayes, first Methodist circuit rider in this area, founded the Ivanhoe, Oklahoma, church 3 miles to the north in 1902; the Stillwater Church, 6 miles east, in Texas in 1904. After Follett originated on the Santa Fe Railroad in 1917, the two congregations merged here. The Old Ivanhoe church bell, cast in Ohio in 1907, was relocated at the Follett building site in 1919, installed in first church tower in 1924, and brought as a link from the historic past to the modern church (built 1961) in 1976. (1977)