William Kaye
The History
William Kay was born in 1813 in Yorkshire, England. He was trained as a machinist and immigrated to America in 1836. It is unknown what he did when he first arrived but in 1841, he founded Kaye & Company Brass Foundry & Machinists.
Like early brass and bell foundries that were in river cities, he began casting steam ship bells. Many of his bells were beautifully decorated with embossed artwork around the shoulders and around the lips of the bells.
There are not a lot of surviving bells cast by William Kaye. There is a very large bell at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, KY. that was cast by Kaye probably in the late 1850’s or early 1860’s. The bells is 64” in diameter and weighs over 5,000 Lbs. It is beautifully cast and had a nice tone.
William Kaye served as Mayor of Louisville, KY. From 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War.
There are other known examples of bells cast by Kaye for river and steam boats, other churches and even a courthouse in Louisiana. Sacred Heart Church in Springfield, MO. has a 39” Kaye bell cast in 1890. There is also a Kaye bell on the Delta Queen Steamship.
Kaye died in 1890 and it appears that the foundry past to his son Samual J. Kaye. Samual operated the foundry until about 1895 when it closed for good.
The picture is the bell he cast for the Steamboat Delta Queen
