Sloss Furnaces Marks Alabama’s Bicentennial with the Children’s Bell
Industrialization is a major part of Alabama’s history and perhaps the most visible reminder of that in Birmingham is Sloss Furnaces. The historic site is marking state’s bicentennial this month with an object in line with that past of iron and steel: the Alabama Bicentennial Children’s Bell.
Metal workers are putting the final touches on it, and next week they will install the bell and a bell tower in the pond near the entrance to the visitors center. Sloss Furnaces’ metal arts director Marshall Christie says it took a lot a research to make sure they got the acoustics right. They created a mold and about two weeks ago, they fired up the furnace.
“[It] is always impressive,” Christie says. “There’s an 8-foot flame coming out of the top of it. Sparks shooting out of every orifice it has. And a whole crew scurrying around working the furnace and manning it.”
He says the process of pouring the metal takes about two minutes. After that, it’s 24 hours nervously waiting to see if it worked. In this case, it did. The bell, made of iron from Alabama, is about two feet in diameter and 375 pounds. Christie says they also measured the bell with a guitar tuner and “a very solid E is our note.”
Part of a bicentennial is about the past, but this bell is about the future and the children who will inhabit it. That message rings out just looking at it. Across the bottom of the bell it reads “Leave it Better.”
The bell is a project of the state’s bicentennial commission and Children’s of Alabama. Both are program sponsors on WBHM. However, our news and business departments operate independently.
The March Madness men’s bracket is out, and the SEC dominates with a record 14 teams
In an all-time record, 14 of the tournament's 68 teams all come from one conference — the SEC. The women's bracket will be unveiled at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Games tip off this coming week.
Pope Francis seen praying in first photo since his hospitalization a month ago
In the image published online by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff was seated in a wheelchair and praying in the private chapel of Rome's Gemelli Hospital.
3 dead in Alabama after tornadoes pummel the South
The deaths came in Dallas and Talladega counties.
Hundreds of alleged gang members deported from U.S. despite court order
It was not immediately clear if the deportations happened before or after a federal judge in D.C. on Saturday issued an emergency order that told the administration to stop using wartime powers to deport anyone, and turn around any planes already in the air.
The missing children of Syria: Hidden in orphanages under Assad, where are they now?
Assad's forces detained mothers and children and sent many of the youth to orphanages. Syrians whose children vanished during the war are now seeking information on their fate. NPR investigates.
51 dead and more than 100 injured in nightclub fire in North Macedonia
A massive nightclub fire killed 51 people early Sunday in North Macedonia 's eastern town of Kocani, and injured more than 100. The blaze broke out during a concert by a local pop group.
