Editor’s Note: This is the second of two parts.

Besides a steeple or spire, there’s still another distinguishing aspect of architecture rising above the roof line of a church. It’s a bell tower.

One definition for a bell tower is based on the visual concept that this structure usually has a flat roof. This is true for three of the present church bell towers in Albert Lea. The exception can be seen at Grace Lutheran Church.

A bell tower, sometimes called a belfry, is a structure intended to have one or more bells, and sometimes as a decorative feature with no bells at all.

Bell towers can also be a part of public buildings such as a fire station in the past. When the bell rang, the volunteer firemen would respond and quickly move the equipment to the site of a reported blaze somewhere in the community.

In Albert Lea the bell in the clock tower, once a part of the county courthouse, would ring the exact numbers to indicate the new hour of the day or night and one ring for the half hour. (This could get rather confusing for the one ring to indicate 12:30, 1:00 and 1:30 for the a.m. and p.m. times.)

The bell or bells in a church tower or steeple can be used to signify the time, for weddings and funerals, to indicate the start of worship services and for other special occasions.

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