Announcement Today on Bevin Bells
Fire that started on May 26 destroyed the East Hampton factory.
NBC Connecticut
On Friday morning, we will learn more about plans to keep a 180-year-old bell factory that burned to the ground in East Hampton.
On the night of May 26, a raging fire destroyed the last bell company in the community that is known as Bell Town U.S.A. because it has been home to 30 different bell companies through the years.
Companies from Connecticut and Canada have stepped forward to help Bevin Bell recover and Matt Bevin, the sixth-generation president of Bevin Bros. Manufacturing Company, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal will make an announcement about the initiative on Friday. “In America, we get back up when we are knocked down,” Bevin said in a news release. “Our 180-year tradition of making bells in Connecticut will continue. This is truly the rebirth and continuation of an American Dream.”
The news conference will be held at the site of the former factory on Bevin Road.
Clondalkin Group, an international folding carton manufacturer in Portland; Diebec, a precision steel-rule die company in Montreal, Canada; GHP Media, a national commercial printing company in West Haven; NESCI Enterprises, a tool, die and machine shop in East Hampton; RJ Phil, photographer in East Hampton; and Weintraub & Company, graphic designer in Middle Haddam, will attend.
The announcement comes weeks after the state announced that Bevin would receive $100,000 in matching grants from the state’s Small Business Express program.
On Saturday, July 14, Matt Bevin will lead the Old Home Day Parade in East Hampton, and ride in a horse-drawn carriage ringing with Bevin bells.
