The Bells of El Camino Real-- Part 2

In 1914, Mrs. Forbes started the California Bell Company because of the heavy demand for souvenirs bells and full-sized bells. By the end of the 1900s, most of the original 450 bells had been removed because of widening and modernization of the road. Others were lost to collectors or the scrap heap.

In 1933, the Calfornia Division of Highways took over the care of the bells. In 1963, it allotted $19,000 for 81 replicas to be built.

In San Bruno, a Mission Bell was dedicated at the City Hall and in the 1990s there was another revival movement to replace all of the old bell sites with modern inexpensive cement bells made to look like the earlier ones.

Mrs. Forbes company is still in business at www.californiabell.com. A solid brass bell went for $3,095 (unpainted $2,295). The bells are 18 by 18 inches and weigh 85 pounds. The 1910 bells cost $25 with $2 shipping.

You can find the most El Camino Real bells along US-101.

In 2005, 555 bells were erected.

Sure Glad They're Keeping Those Bells. A Real Bell-Ringer. --RoadDog

The Bells of El Camino Real-- Part 1

From the Dec. 21, 2009, San Mateo County Cal) Daily Journal "Rediscovering the Peninsula: El Camino Real bells" by Darold Frederick.

Back in the early 1900s, Mrs. A.S.C. Forbers of Los Angeles, an early auto fan, took a trip to the San Francisco Peninsula visiting old missions along the El Camino Real. She was greatly confused by conflicting and poor directions and wrong roads and vowed to do something about it.

The El Camino Real, The Royal Road, was built in the 1700s and connected the old Spanish missions. A member of the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West, she began placing 100-pound clapperless bell replicas on a 7-foot tall gooseneck iron pipe to mark the way. These bells were the only markers along the route, there were no signs or numbers yet.

On April 15, 1906, te first bell was erected at Plaza Church in Los Angeles. The next one was put up in 1909 in Redwood City, San Mateo County. Bells along the whole 700 mile stretch were completed by 1913 even though some wanted a bell every mile. The El Camino Real Association also was involved in the project.

More to Come. --RoadDog