Welcome to the C. S. Bell Hillsboro Ohio Website. We are all things C. S. Bell including the history of the company and information on the bells that they made.
My first tax paying job was working at Bell’s Foundry (The C. S. Bell Company) for Elmer Rathweg in 1971. Elmer had recently purchased what was left of the largest manufacturer of iron bells in the world from two Hillsboro businessmen. The descendants of Charles Singleton (C. S.) Bell had given up ownership of the 118 year old company in an attempt to save it.
Tim Koehl
Head of Operations
I was fresh out of high school and employee #8 of the newly re-organized company. Elmer turned the foundry around in short order.
At that time C. S. Bell Co was a greensand operation with a cupola to melt the iron. In short order, as business grew expansion plans were underway. The demand for machinable grey iron was increasing and manufacturing companies were concerned about supply and demand. Emerson was a large company and wanted all of the foundry’s capacity for their needs so Elmer sold the foundry to Emerson Electric and moved the C. S. Bell Company product line to Tiffin Ohio. He then started a new foundry, Kenton Iron Products to manufacture the bells and other ‘crystal metal’ castings.
In the early 1990s the foundry industry was in steep decline and Kenton Iron Products was closed.
The C. S. Bell Co., located in Tiffin Ohio, discontinued the manufacturing of bells and bell parts in 1990. Certain of bell patterns were sold to Prindle Station Bells. The C S Bell Company ceased operations in 2022.
Today I travel the country researching and rescuing old broken C. S. Bell bells, bring them back to life and find them a home near Hillsboro where they were made.
For more information, or if you have a question about your bell, please reach out to us.
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