It seems fitting that I spent the final days of the year poring over the archives of the Ballard News-Tribune, with particular attention to the years 1949 and 1967. It was last December when Mrs. Bertha Davis passed her thirty-five years of work with the Ballard Bell to me and the Ballard Historical Society. A year later the bell rings daily, Bertha’s bell ornament hangs on my tree but there are questions about the bell’s history that Bertha is no longer here to answer.

Meanwhile the bell remains a focal point on Ballard Avenue; the backdrop for more photographs daily than the inflatable Santa in front of Romanza. Besides, the Ballard Bell isn’t just for holidays – it’s for keeps. One year after starting the project to “Bring the Ring Back to Ballard” it still keeps me busy.

For example, there are discrepancies about when the bell was removed from Ballard’s City Hall. Did it ever really fall in the street after an earthquake? How did it land at the site of Firlands Sanitarium, which was closed by the State in 1967? Was the bell really silenced because someone rang it too long after the saloons closed? Is the shooting story true?

As a story teller I like all the tales but as someone working with Ballard Historical Society to fact check for a permanent plaque about the bell’s history the requirements are different. Which is why I’ve been studying bound issues of then Ballard Tribune: “Key to all that happens in Ballard.”

On April 13, 1949 there was a 7.1 earthquake centered in the Puget Sound area. I figured if there was damage to the bell tower it would have rated a news story. But for the next few weeks the front page headlines had other concerns, “Ballard Old Timers to gather,” “Television is growing fast,” and, “Drive continues for ferry from Suquamish to Ballard.” Finally on May 12, 1949, a reference to the earthquake by way of announcing a competition for elementary and junior high students: “$100 Prize for Best Letter on Slight Quake Damage.”

There was breaking news in the May 19, 1949 edition, “Boy, Head Caught in Bridge Saved as Train Waits.” According to the news story hundreds watched as rescuers tried to free Jimmy Albright, “It took 90 minutes to get Jimmy’s head loose.”

After finding no clues to bell-related events rumored for 1954, I moved on to 1967 which included such juxtapositions as Santa arriving by Viking Ship and soldiers returning from Vietnam. Ballard’s original city hall had indeed been demolished by then, due to damage from a 1965 earthquake. But there was no word on where its bell was stored. A photograph showed four original columns from the 1899 building installed in what was about to become a city park .Then several weeks of coverage before and after the official dedication on May 24, 1967. Water from Salmon Bay was poured on the cornerstone and it was christened, “Curfew Square,” possibly confirming one anecdote about the bell tolling 9 p.m. curfew for children.

Beneath the cornerstone there was a time capsule to be unearthed in 50 years, in 2017. But where’s the cornerstone now? If it’s beneath the Ballard Centennial Bell Tower unveiled there in 1989, best not to disturb it.

The old newspapers are bound by year and archived at the Nordic Heritage Museum. I closed the books with more questions than answers. Next I used my computer to look through MOHAI’s photograph collection available through the University of Washington’s digital library. In a black and white photo from 1910 a horse-drawn fire engine races south on Ballard Avenue. City Hall is in the background; a strange turret on top of the building unlike the cupola that’s visible in a photo from 1939.

After a year I’ve heard hundreds more stories about old Ballard but I haven’t been able to confirm much about the bell before its return to Ballard via The Locks in 1976. But I know that bringing the ring back to Ballard summoned memories and former residents. It brought joy to Bertha on her 97th birthday and added impetus for a Webster School reunion. It rings for the start and close of the Farmer’s Market and regularly delights children who happen to be peering up when the bell strikes the hour. I have new friends and alliances; the bell has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life. And I can recall Bertha’s firm grip on my hand, all because a bell rings again on the site of the old city hall.