Updated:
October 14, 2006
ver several decades, Frank Miller and his family acquired in excess of eight hundred bells (approximately five hundred make up the collection today). Visitors often identified the Mission Inn by the many bells displayed throughout the hotel.
A booklet published by the hotel, The Bells and Crosses of the Mission Inn (n.d.) , provided an introduction and description of the Inn’s vast bell collection. The bell above, listed as #359 in the booklet, is known as the Agua Mansa bell. It has an important local connection.
A priest serving the community of Agua Mansa (north of Riverside) wanted a new bell for the local Catholic church. He recalled that a Mexican man offered to make a bell in exchange for two good horses and twelve dollars. The resulting bell had many flaws, including holes at the top made from gas escaping during the casting process. The bell was dedicated in 1866 to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Several years later, the bell was moved to a Catholic church in Colton. Frank Miller, owner of the Mission Inn, acquired the bell in 1918 in exchange for five hundred dollars and another bell.
It was once thought that the bell was made of gold and silver chains and other items donated by members of the community. Chemical analysis, however, shows that the 960-pound bell was actually made of ninety percent copper and ten percent tin, a combination known as bronze. |
