May 5, 2015 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Buried in a basement crawl space inside a Waynesburg University’s men’s dorm was a piece of weighty school history that was forgotten about for years and left to tarnish.

A 140-year-old bell weighing nearly a ton that once sat atop historic Hanna Hall was discovered by Director of Facilities Terry Sattler earlier this year and inspired the senior class to restore the relic as its gift back to the alma mater.

“I don’t think many people knew it existed,” said Joshuah Dains, 22, who served as student senate president and headed the senior class gift committee. “It was in pretty rough shape.”

The bell was pitted, tarnished and marked with spray paint, Dains said, making it a disheartening sight as it was lifted from the bowels of Martin Hall. However, Dains saw it as an exciting opportunity for the senior class gift as the committee mulled a variety of ideas.

“It was such a unique piece of history hidden for so long, that I thought it was time to bring it back out,” Dains said. “A piece of us students had been missing.”

The committee quickly raised $8,000 from student and family donations to restore the bell, purchase a plaque and build a new foundation for it to stand in Cusick Court between Hanna and Miller halls. The university unveiled it last week.

Vikki Beppler, the assistant director for Alumni Relations, said it was the largest amount of student-driven fundraising she’s seen since overseeing the program for the past five years. Beppler said past senior gifts included other noble causes such as scholarship endowments and grant money for mission trips, but she was pleased this year’s class restored a small piece of Waynesburg history.

“It means a lot to us,” Beppler said. “To have something so significant on campus that was around in the 1800s when we were first founded, to have that displayed on campus and out for alumni, friends and the community to see, it’s really special.”

Vincent Allen Inc. Metal Restoration in Pittsburgh performed the work on the bell and was able to keep the original motto of the university, “For truth and courage,” inscribed in Latin.

The bell rang three times during Sunday’s commencement ceremonies and is now prominently displayed during campus tours for potential students.

“It was a real connection point between the students,” Dains said of the university’s original scholars from the mid-19th century and the brand new 2015 grads.

However, the mystery still remains of how the bell found its temporary resting place inside Martin Hall and for how many it remained there unnoticed.

“No one knows,” Dains said. “The details are fuzzy, but it’s not something just a couple of guys could just carry around.”