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EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY |
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CONTACT: |
Jayme Jonas, 425-556-2496 |
| April 28, 2009 |
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Marta Gronlund, 425-556-2427 |
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The Mayor and other Redmond City officials invite all Redmond
residents to the dedication ceremony for the city's first school
bell on Wednesday, May 20 at 4pm on the Redmond City Hall Campus,
Public Safety Building Plaza, 8701 160th Avenue NE. This event
is part of the City's celebration of May as National Preservation
Month.
This first school bell was mounted on a new one-room school built in
1892 at what is now Anderson Park. The small Redmond community,
comprised largely of farmers and loggers, showed they placed great
importance on schooling by raising the money to purchase the bell.
When the school moved to the Redmond School on NE 80th Street in
1929, the bell went missing. In the 1940s it was located on
the property of Al Hollingsworth near Redmond Way and 148th Avenue
NE, mounted on top of an out-building with a plaque describing it as
Redmond's first school bell. Long-time community members remember
it being rung at a rally held for the 1952 election of Dwight D
Eisenhower.
By the 1980s, the bell had made its way to Montana. While
still in Montana, the bell was donated to the City of Redmond. The
Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce helped transport the bell back
to Redmond where it was presented to the City in a ceremony on July
15, 1988. The bell remained on display on the front steps of
City Hall until 2000. It was then refurbished and moved to its
current location at the Public Safety Building in 2008.
For more information about the dedication ceremony or National
Preservation Month, contact Jayme Jonas, Senior Planner, at
jjonas@redmond.gov or 425-556-2496.
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