08 Dec historic church bell successfully extracted from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896)

sequential photo-documentation of lightly embossed bronze church bell extraction from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il.

the swift removal of the bell – comprised of flanking cast iron a-frame bases or stands, yoke, clapper and bent wood wheel with a single sheave – was completed on the morning of 12-8-2025, guided by wrecking company and rented boom truck. the bell was later transported to a logan square preservation holding facility for further documentation and eventual conservation.

the custom church bell was fabricated by the henry stucketede bell foundry company (1892-1931), st. louis, mo.

the lightly embossed lettering on the bell reads:

the hy. stucketede co.

st. louis mo.

1896

deustche ev luth (translation: german ev. lutheran)

christus kirche (translation: christ church)

kommt es ist alles bereit (translation: come, for all is ready – luke 14:17).

mar 1896

the bell is nearly identical (made by the foundry with nearly identical structural configuration) to the church bell salvaged by eric j. nordstrom and urban remains from nearby non-extant st. john’s (1911) in 2016. (see images).

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bld. 51 archive.