The bronze bell is small, maybe 18 inches by 18 inches, though it carries an outsized significance to the history of Boistfort.
“It doesn’t belong to the school, it doesn’t belong to the grange, doesn’t belong to the Lions Club, doesn’t belong to anybody else but the community,” Jerry Zabriskie, a member of both the Lions Club and the Baw Faw Grange, told The Chronicle in 2018. “... It has come home to its spot.”
However, six years after its placement outside of the grange, the bell is missing. The window for its disappearance has been narrowed to sometime between 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, and 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26.
The bell dates back to 1874 when it hung above the Boistfort School building.
“The Boistfort School District was number six in Oregon Territory,” Zabriskie told The Chronicle in 2018. “Then. when Oregon became a state, it became number one in Washington Territory ... (I)t was a school in Oregon four years before Oregon became a state. Then, when they set the border, it became part of Washington Territory and School District No. 1 in Washington Territory.”
According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, Norine Jones donated it to the community. In 2018, the Lions Club built a tower for it next to the Baw Faw Grange for it to hang.
The bell was bolted to the structure, and Lions Club Member Paul Barr said it likely took two people to hoist the bell out of the structure. The bell was in working condition and tolled yearly on Memorial Day to mark those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
“It was not only a historic school building, but it was also part of the fabric of the Historic Boistfort Valley,” resident Rene Remund said.
Those who have any information about the bell should call 360-880-5535.
