Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 14 : Fall 2012 | Page 40

Mystery
Bell
the

of the

by

Un i v e r s i t y of M a i n e at F ort
K e n t Un i v e r s i t y R e l at i on s

40

FALL 2012

For whom did the bell toll?
Apparently, it sounded for generations of
students at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
But from where its sound came from, and
whether it was the only bell on
campus that rang, depends largely
upon who you ask.
Was it the bell housed for more
than seventy years in t h e
belfry of the original Cyr Hall,
located on Pleasant Street? Many
people seemed to think so. Or
was it a different bell, altogether?
Questions abound about the
origin and the original location
of the bell, when speaking of
La Cloche de Fer (the iron
bell); symbol of a multi-million
comprehensive campaign to
support the University.

Back in the days of
Vetal Cyr -- the institution’s
first principal -- students,
faculty and staff were called
to classes, meals, and special
events by the sound of a
bell -- La Cloche de Fer.
The sounding of the bell
was a familiar, steady,
and calming presence on
campus in the days when
UMFK was known as
the Madawaska Training
School.

According
to
A
Century and a Quarter
of Progress, Professor
Roger
Grindle’s
seminal
historic
account of UMFK’s
origins, “The catalog