Olton's Union Church Bell

Duane's take

The way this marker tells it, here's what you need to know about Olton's Union Church Bell. When the Soash Land Company founded Olton in 1908, they laid the town out with a plan already in mind. Lots were set aside right from the start, for a school, a church, and a bank.

The residents of that brand-new town didn't waste much time. They went ahead and erected a Union church, meant for all denominations, about 1909. One church for everybody.

That's Olton for you. Now, a church without a bell is just a building, and the folks of Olton knew it. Not long after the Union church went up, they purchased a bell.

Not just any bell. A nine-hundred-and-fifty-pound steel bell. Think about that weight for a moment.

And when that bell rang, its tones carried out across the flat West Texas land and called worshipers in from miles around. Miles. You didn't need a phone.

You didn't need a notice in the paper. You just listened for that bell. For years, that was the sound of Sunday morning in Olton.

Then 1928 came along, and it brought a tornado with it. The tornado destroyed the bell tower. Just like that, the tower was gone.

But the bell, that nine-hundred-and-fifty-pound steel bell, it survived. The Methodist congregation bought the bell, and by 1934 they had moved it to their new building at 10th and Avenue E. The bell had a new home and a new tower to ring from.

It kept calling people together, same as it always had. Then in 1958, the Methodists sold that property and the bell along with it, to the Church of the Nazarene. The bell changed hands, changed steeples, but it never stopped being the bell of Olton.

Tornadoes, changing times, changing congregations. Nine hundred and fifty pounds of steel just kept on ringing.

What the marker says

When the Soash Land Company founded Olton in 1908, lots were provided for a school, church and bank. Residents of the new town erected a Union church for all denominations about 1909. Soon afterward, they purchased this 950-pound steel bell. Its tones called worshipers from miles around. In 1928, a tornado destroyed the bell tower. The Methodist congregation bought the bell and moved it to a new building at 10th and Avenue E in 1934. In 1958 they sold the property and bell to the Church of the Nazarene. (1978)