{{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox building | name = Old Belfry | native_name = | alternate_names = | image = Old Belfry, Lexington, Mass (NYPL b12647398-66606).tiff | caption = The Old Belfry, pictured in the first half of the 20th century | building_type = Belfry | architectural_style = Colonial | structural_system = | location = Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S. | owner = | current_tenants = | landlord = | coordinates = {{coord|42.44822|-71.23085|display=inline,title|region:GB_type:landmark}} | construction_start_date = | completion_date = {{start date and age|1762|p=yes}} | height = <!--{{convert|316|ft|m}}--> | diameter = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = | floor_area = | main_contractor = | architect = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | civil_engineer = | other_designers = | quantity_surveyor = | awards = }} The '''Old Belfry''' is a historic structure on Clarke Street in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It stands on Belfry Hill.<ref name=wll>[https://lexington.wickedlocal.com/article/20070411/news/304119517 "Lexington belfry has storied history"] – ''Wicked Local Lexington'', April 11, 2007</ref>
The belfry was erected at its current location in 1762, but it was moved a few yards away to Lexington Common<ref name=lhs>[https://www.lexingtonhistory.org/historic-sites.html Historic Sites] – Lexington Historical Society</ref> in 1768, after Jonas Monroe, on whose land it originally stood, wanted the town to pay him taxes for keeping it there.<ref name=wll/> (Its former location on the Common is now marked by a boulder and a plaque.)<ref name=wll/> The bell that hung in it summoned locals to worship, reminded them at 9:00 pm to "rake up the fires and go to bed",<ref name=wll/> warned them of danger, tolled on their deaths, and rang out the initial alarm of what became the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.<ref>[https://www.tourlexington.us/historic-sites-museums/pages/belfry The Belfry] – Visit Lexington Massachusetts</ref> Today it rings in the beginning of Patriots' Day annually at 5:30 am.<ref name=wll/>
The third incarnation of the structure was built, this time with a steeple to house the bell, in 1794.<ref name=wll/> Three years later, the belfry was moved to the Parker Homestead in the southern part of town and used as a wheelwright's shop by the son of John Parker. In 1891, after it had fallen into a much-dilapidated state, it was refurbished and returned to its original location by the Lexington Historical Society after it was gifted to them by James S. Monroe.<ref name=wll/> It was destroyed in a gale on June 20, 1909,<ref name=wll/> and was rebuilt by March the following year.<ref name=lhs/> It was moved from the back end of Belfry Hill to its present site in 1913, with an iron fence erected around it.<ref name=form>[https://www.lexingtonma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif3351/f/pages/oldbelfrymon900.pdf Form C – Object] – Town of Lexington website</ref>
In 1971, the Katharine Harrington House at the corner of Clarke Street and Massachusetts Avenue was torn down to make way for Belfry Hill Park.<ref name=form/>
==Bell== Isaac Stone donated a new bell to the town of Lexington in 1761. It weighed 463 pounds. At a town meeting on June 15 of that year, it was decided to "hang ye Bell on ye top of ye Hill upon ye North side of Liet Jonas Munroes house."<ref name=wll/>
Between 1:00 am and 2:00 am on April 19, 1775, the bell summoned the local militia to Lexington Common, just after Paul Revere and William Dawes had passed through.<ref name=wll/> After a scout arrived to tell Captain John Parker that the British Regulars were just over a mile away, the bell was rung for a second time, summoning the 77 Minutemen.<ref name=wll/>
Today's bell was made in the 19th century, but the original bell tongue is now stored at the Hancock–Clarke House.<ref name=wll/> The bell was replaced again in March 1964, a donation by William Maloney and which formerly hung in Wilmington Methodist Church.<ref name=form/>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Sunset by the Old Belfry.jpg|The front of the building File:Old Belfry, Lexington MA.jpg|A view of the hill on which the belfry sits File:Steps up to the Old Belfry, Lexington MA.jpg|Steps up to the belfry </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.loc.gov/item/89707289/ Old belfry, Lexington, Massachusetts. From this belfry was rung out the alarm on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, calling the Minute Men to assemble on the Common] – Library of Congress
Category:Buildings and structures in Lexington, Massachusetts Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1762 Category:Massachusetts in the American Revolution Category:1762 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay