Plainfield Church Now Home to Village's Only Carillon

Until Sunday, there were just 181 carillons in the United States, according to Jeff Crook, president of Chime Master, an Ohio-based company that installs and renovates bell systems.

Now, you can add Plainfield United Methodist Church's bell tower to the list.

Over the weekend, Crook added the final five bells needed to bring the total to 23 — the minimum necessary to make the church's bell tower a true carillon.

Church member Larry Stephens said the bells rang out for Sunday's services at the church, 15114 S. Illinois St.

The project was a labor of love for the Plainfield United Methodist, and it's been years in the making.

According to Stephens, the bells were briefly silenced after a 2005 inspection prompted concerns over the condition of the 10 original bells and playing mechanism, installed when the church was built in 1907.

"They weren't played after the church renovation" in 2005, Stephens said. 

In 2007, church members pitched in to help bring the bells back to life. Through donations, members raised more than $130,000 to fund a renovation of the bell tower.

Crook's company was called in to build a modern playing mechanism and install eight new bells. The new mechanism, which was formatted to accommodate a carillon, was installed in the original console from 1907.

Whereas the original system required a considerable amount of force to play the bells, "with the new system, a child could walk up there and play the bells really easily," Crook said.

Church member and handbell choir director Kelly Markwell recalled how difficult the original bells were to play. He said when he was in junior high, he became the youngest student permitted to play the instrument because he had the strength to sound the bells.

Crook said the largest bell weighs in at around 2,000 pounds, while the smallest weighs just 25 pounds.

The new bronze bells were cast in the Netherlands and carefully calibrated to fit with the sound of the century-old original bells, Crook said. 

"These bells are not the standard shape and size," he said. "This was a real challenge -- they had to take these old bells that were not created to exacting standards," and match the pitch, Crook said. Digital recordings of the 1907 bells were even emailed to bellmaker Royal Eijsbouts in the Netherlands to make sure the sound was just right, he added.

Since 2007, church-goers have enjoyed the sounds of the 18-bell instrument, but since it takes 23 to officially be declared a carillon, members didn't stop there.

Thanks to a series of donations — including a generous contribution from primary donor the Dorothy C. and Richard A. Parks Foundation — the church raised $65,000 for the purchase and installation of the final five bells.

The bronze bells arrived over the weekend, and Crook got to work.

The new system is so high tech that authorized church staff can use a smartphone to play songs automatically, Crook said.

"You can turn a smartphone into a remote control," he said.

The automated system contains more than 500 church hymns in its memory, but can still be played manually, according to Crook.

Now that the bell tower is officially a carillon, "Plainfield is going to be the next addition to that rarefied group," Crook said.

Stephens said Tim Sleep, city carillonneur for Naperville, served as an advisor during the project. 

"We were super lucky to have him at our disposal," he said. "[The bells] mean a lot to a lot of people."