Soon after Fairfield Female College opened here in 1858, plans were made to have a bell cast. The students gave some of their money and jewelry to give "tone" to the bell, and citizens added several hundred dollars in silver. The bell was made in England, then shipped to Galveston and hauled here by ox-wagon. Because of its great weight, college officials placed it in a special frame on the front porch. When the college buildings were torn down in 1900, the bell was given to the Methodist Church, where it is still in use today.