By Al Benson
An old Aurora church bell is silent.
After a final tolling Wednesday, Aug. 26, the 129-year-old, 5,000-pound brass bell and wooden wheel were removed Thursday, Aug. 27, from a steeple tower at St. John United Church of Christ on Aurora’s near East Side.
Reverend Cyndi Gavin of Naperville, 14-year church pastor, said the bell’s retirement began a deconsecrating of church properties due to an upcoming sale of the building. According to Rev. Gavin, the structure at 309 Fifth Street in Aurora, will be sold to nonprofit The Salt and Light Foundation of Darien for the work of Chicago-based Not Forgotten Ministries. The new ministry specializes in counseling families, feeding the hungry, doing toy, book and school backpack drives, job placement assistance, senior outreach, single mom outreach, and street ministry.
In a Thursday, Aug. 27 social media post announcing the bell’s retirement, Rev. Gavin stressed “…the actual church, the people, will worship in the Peace House next door.” Peace House, the former church parsonage, is at 301 Fifth Street.
Andy Wolf of B.J. Wolf and Sons Construction Co. in Aurora, whose workers removed the bell with industrial erection equipment in a two-hour operation, pulled on a rope for the last ring. The building has been closed to services since March 28 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded by German immigrants as German Evangelical St. John’s Church, a cornerstone-laying ceremony was held Aug. 28, 1887. The Nov. 23, 1887, Beacon News reported, “The new church is a neat, unpretentious, brick edifice, costing in the vicinity of $5,000.”