In today’s hipster vernacular the “in” word is repurposed. In days of yore before we became a disposal society not much was discarded. When Lassen County was in the midst of building a new courthouse in 1916-17, the county deemed the old courthouse as surplus property.
In November 1916, the county advertised for bids for the sale of the old courthouse in anticipation of moving into the new facility. Plenty of people inspected the building. The county did not know when the building would be available. In January 1917, the county received two bids for the structure, but they were rejected. The county decided to hold an auction, in fact two.
The first one held was on April 11, 1917. It included the bell from the old courthouse that used to call court into session. It was purchased by Rev. J.H. Westervelt of the Methodist Church. The church was destroyed in a 1915 fire, and they needed a replacement bell.
The installation of the bell was chronicled in the Lassen Advocate of October 19, 1917: “The bell purchased last spring for the Methodist Church was placed in the tower of the edifice last week and for the first time in many a day ‘the sound of the church-going bell’ of this the oldest church in town, brought against its hearers the indescribable feeling of Sabbath peace and quiet that means so much to village life the world over.”
It should be noted, the bell is still used to this day to call the faithful to worship. I can attest that the bell has a wonderful tone.