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The Jenny Lind
Bell
The year was 1851 and Jenny Lind, the
world-renowned “Swedish Nightingale”, gave a concert at Rochester’s Corinthian
Hall. The demand for tickets was so great that a
second concert was given with tickets sold at auction to prevent scalping. $2500 more than regular prices was raised and Miss Lind
donated it to six benevolent organizations and the German Lutheran Church – Zion Church – on
Grove Street. That $200 and an additional amount
from Jenny Lind was used to purchase a bell for the church. It was cast in 1870 and the German inscription on it
translates as “God’s word and Luther’s doctrine will never fade away.”
After Zion and Concordia Lutheran church
merged and became The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, the bell was given to the church by
the Jewish War Veterans which had purchased the old building. It was installed in our church
tower when that was added in 1968 and it rang for several years before falling silent. Thanks to
a member of the congregation it peals again, striking the hour and half-hour during the daylight
hours.
William Tribelhorn
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