New Bedford Veterans Bell’s Ties to Paul Revere

You've walked or driven past the Veterans Bell in front of the New Bedford Free Public Library on Pleasant Street countless times and likely have not noticed the business identification marking near the top.

If this bell could talk, it would likely have quite a story to tell.

New Bedford's Veterans Bell, which dates back to the early-to-mid-19th century, was cast by one of the best-known American manufacturers and merchants of decorative lighting, Civil War artillery, bells and chimes.

Henry Northey Hooper was born in Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1799. Hooper descended from a line of silversmiths and shipmasters from Gloucester, Salem and Manchester.

An apprentice of Paul Revere at Revere's Boston foundry, Hooper purchased the business and established Henry N. Hooper & Co., where he made lighting fixtures, chandeliers, lamps, bells, chimes, civil war artillery and more.

Henry N. Hooper & Co. was best known for its bells and chimes.

Hooper Company bells found homes in churches, including Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island, Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Wananalua Congregational Church in Maui, Hawaii.

Hooper bells hung in government buildings such as the Town Hall Bell Tower in Plymouth, Massachusetts and the San Joaquin County Courthouse in Stockton, California.

The New Bedford Veterans Bell, a Henry N. Hooper & Co. Bell., was dedicated by the Greater New Bedford Veterans Council on November 11, 1975 and placed in front of the library.

A plaque accompanying the bell reads: "In heartfelt gratitude and remembrance of all those veterans of all wars and conflicts who gave their lives that this bell might ring out in freedom."

Where the bell came from, and how the Greater New Bedford Veterans Council acquired it, remain a mystery.