THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290605
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Although Norfolk became a borough on Sept. 15, 1736 - more than half a century after the town was established by the Virginia Assembly in 1680 - it did not have an independent courthouse and town hall until 1790-91.
Until the borough was destroyed by bombardment and fire at the beginning of the American Revolution, Norfolk's civic affairs were transacted in the same building with the Court of Norfolk County, whose headquarters were on the north side of Main Street near where the Confederate monument now stands.
The Virginia Assembly directed in 1789 that the county courthouse be moved across the Elizabeth River to what is now the Berkley area. In 1801, it was again moved to Portsmouth.
Faced with the necessity of providing its own courthouse, the Norfolk Common Council in 1790 authorized the erection of a structure on the southwest corner of East Main Street and Town Hall Lane, later renamed Nebraska Street. Work on the two-story brick building, topped by a copper-sheathed belfry and weather vane, progressed rapidly. It was first occupied on June 24, 1791. From then on, the building was the borough's principal landmark and continued in use until Norfolk's second City Hall and Court House (now the MacArthur Memorial) was first occupied on Nov. 20, 1850. Soon afterward, Norfolk's first courthouse on Main Street was torn down.
The bell of the latter was large and sonorous enough to be heard for miles. A much smaller bell that had hung in the pre-Revolutionary Norfolk County Court House had survived the 1776 fire and became the property of the borough government.
Realizing that a much larger bell would be required for its first independent courthouse and city hall, the authorities directed in April 1790 that the old bell be sent to England to be disposed of and that a new one be imported. When it arrived in June 1791, the common Council ordered that it be hung immediately in the recently completed cupola of the Town Hall. At the same time, a bell ringer and messenger was hired, a position that was not abolished until 1852. Incidentally, the job was frequently filled by a woman.
On election days, the bell announced the opening of the polls at sunrise and the exact moment of sunset signaling the polls' closing. On these occasions, according to the reminiscences of H. Boswell Bagnall, a 19th century Norfolk historian, the following routine was observed. In clear weather, an attendant was stationed on the courthouse roof. When the sun disappeared beneath the western horizon, he notified the bell ringer and the bell was pealed. On cloudy days, an accurate watch was consulted - the exact moment of sunset having previously been ascertained.
The Union Fire Department, whose engine shed was located adjacent to Norfolk's first courthouse, also made constant use of the bell to alert the populace if any serious fire broke out.
From 1799, when George Washington died, through the stirring times of the War of 1812 and later, the tolling of the courthouse bell played an important role in civic mourning, stress or jubilation. After the old courthouse was torn down in 1850, the bell remained silent until it was acquired by the Union Fire Company for its new engine house on Fenchurch Street. In the meantime, a much larger bell had been installed in the new courthouse on City Hall Avenue.
For the next eight years, according to Bagnall, ``An old, old voice was still heard whenever fire, the great enemy of the past, threatened the homes of Norfolk.'' Then the end came swiftly. To quote Bagnall further, ``On Wednesday night, Oct. 27, 1858, the quiet hours of sleep were disturbed by the rapid heavy strokes of the bell in the cupola of the Union Fire House; the members obeyed the summons, as did firemen of the other companies; the call was to its own burning home, the Union's building was in flames. The scarcity of water rendered the situation hopeless, nothing could be done; the heat became intense and finally softened the metal, then the old bell fell to the floor in a shapeless mass.
``The veterans of many fires stood in the quiet of the night and watched with aching hearts the passing of Norfolk's old Town Hall bell.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
FILE
The bell in the tower of the Norfolk Court House, right, was rung to
announce the opening and closing of the polls on election days.
by CNB