The Big Bell

Outside Charlottetown City Hall stands an enormous bell. At first it might seem like simply another artifact preserved from the city’s past, but this bell belongs to Charlottetown’s long history of fighting fires.

Before telephones, radios and modern emergency dispatch systems, bells played an essential role in protecting a city. When fire broke out, the alarm had to travel quickly. The ringing of a large bell could be heard across neighborhoods, summoning volunteer firefighters while simultaneously warning residents that something was wrong.

That was especially important in a city like Charlottetown. Much of the early city was built of wood, buildings stood close together, and heating and lighting depended upon open flames, fireplaces, stoves and lamps. Fire could spread with frightening speed. The Great Fire of 1866 demonstrated just how destructive it could be, burning a substantial section of Charlottetown.

The city’s organized fire service developed during this era. For generations, Charlottetown depended heavily upon volunteer firefighters, ordinary citizens who left their homes and businesses when the alarm sounded and hurried to help protect their community.

Today the bell is silent, standing outside City Hall rather than sounding an alarm across Charlottetown. But that silence is part of what makes it interesting. The emergency it was created to announce is now communicated electronically and almost instantaneously. The bell remains as a reminder of a time when the sound of its ringing would have meant something very different to everyone who heard it.