CINCINNATI

HAVE YOU HEARD OF BIG JOE?

Big Joe is famous!  He is a bell - the bell that hangs in the steeple of Saint Francis de Sales Church in the Walnut Hill area of Cincinnati.

Joe was cast at Second and Broadway Streets in Cincinnati and hauled by a 14-horse-train to the site in 1895.  The bell with it's 640 pound clapper weighs 35,000 pounds including it's mount.  At the time, it was the largest swinging church bell in the world.  It stands 7 feet tall and 9 feet around.  The horses pulled the bell into place, 125 feet up in the bell tower, with a line over a pulley.

It seems the bell was only rung once - on New Years Day 1896.  The vibration was so great that it was feared the ringing bell, which could be heard for at least 15 miles, would cause the bell tower it was set in to crumble.  The clapper has never again been used.

The bell is now rung three times a day using a small hammer on it's rim.  There are four small bells now located above it in the tower which are rung daily.

ps.  it rings in E♭