Every Time a Bell Rings...

Two years after the present MPLC building was constructed, a bell was installed on a stand outside the church entrance. But this bell wasn’t new; its history tells an interesting story . . .

Bell from Mygatts Corners Grade School, 1892, now located next to MPLC. (7.25.25)

According to a Racine Journal Times story (dated December 3, 1977), the bell was purchased on January 8, 1892 for $20.61 (including shipping) by the Mygatts Corners Grade School, which stood on the southeast corner of the intersection of Highways 31 and 20. The bell was rung to start the school day each morning until a new electric bell system was installed in 1938.

To preserve the bell’s history, the school donated it to the church across the street, on the intersection’s southwest corner. The church was then known as the Mount Pleasant Community Church. Church officials declined to hang the bell, due to the building’s age (constructed in 1857), but kept it in storage.

This church building would later become the first home of “Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church,” established in 1956. When the congregation sold that property and built the current building in 1975, the bell came with them. MPLC charter member Mrs. Arthur Schnacht sponsored the framing and installation of the bell outside the new building, where it stood until the addition of the current narthex in 1996.

Today, the bell is again found near a church entrance, the 16th Street door and pathway into the labyrinth garden. In 2025, the bell was restored by MPLC member Doug Seeger. To God be the glory!