mcshane bell foundry

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Born in 1833 in Dunkirk, Ireland, Henry McShane immigrated to America in about 1847 at age 14. As soon as he was old enough, we began working in the Baltimore foundry of Clampitt & Regester, who also cast bronze bells. Henry learned the art of bell casting at that foundry and in 1856 at the age of 23 he went out on his own and formed McShane’s Bell Foundry in Baltimore City, MD. The following year, in 1857 Henry brought in a partner and the company name was changed to McShane & Bailey. The company was renamed again in 1863 the company was renamed Henry McShane & Company. 

In 1876, for America’s Centennial, McShane cast their first chime of bells, a very large 13 bell chime (one bell for each of the original 13 colonies) with the bass bell of 5,000 Lbs. The chime was named the Centennial Chime and won a gold metal at the Centennial Exposition in Machinery Hall in Philadelphia. After the celebration ended, the chime was sold and installed in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Long Island, NY. where it still remains today.

Henry McShane died in 1889 but was able to oversee the manufacturing of about 25 more chimes after the Centennial Chime in 1876. It is said that the foundry had over 1,000 employees at the time of Henry’s death.

By 1895 Henry’s son William James McShane was Vice President of the company. Along with casting bells, the McShane’s had set up another foundry, this one in the business of plumbing and piping castings.

By 1903 both the bell and the plumbing sides of company were suffering. That same year McShane Manufacturing Company, the plumbing business went into receivership and the following year the bell foundry. The company continued to struggle in 1904, 1905 and 1906producing only a few chimes during these years but by 1907 was apparently doing well again, producing 5 chimes that year. 

Between the years of 1904 and 1942 the company was bought and sold several times, continuing to cast many bells, peals and chimes throughout. In 1942 the company was purchased William Parker Sr. who was a tool and die maker. He continued casting bells in the foundry and making chimes until at least 1958. It was in that same year that the last chime of bells was cast, which was a chime of 16 bells that are still installed at Christ Lutheran Church in Baltimore, MD.  In 1979 the foundry lost its lease on their longtime foundry building and moved its operation to Glen Bernie, casting bells but not in the significant number that it had for the past 123 years. 

The Parker family continued operating the company, passing ownership first to William Parker Jr. and then to William Parker III before selling the company to Americlock in 2019. It was this same year that the company changed names again, this time to the McShane Bell Company and was relocated to St. Louis, MO.

The McShane foundry cast an enormous number of single bells, peals as well as over 130 chimes.

McShane bells are known for their heavy castings and strong bell equipment and can be found all over the United States.