The Yard of Ale bell came from the original St. Lucy's Church in Retsof, New York, which formally opened on Christmas Day 1911 with Father Poli celebrating the mass. The Retsof Mining Company had built the structure in 1892 as a schoolhouse for the many children of immigrant families, and Bishop Thomas Frances Hickey purchased the building from the company in 1911. After the building was torn down in 1964 by the Vitale Brothers Construction Company, Joseph Vitale is believed to have acquired the bell and moved it to his property at Conesus Lake, New York, where family members and friends rang it during various events. In 2009, Ed Simandl became the bell's new owner as part of a bundle package with the purchase of a butcher block from the Vitale estate. The bell was then moved to the back side of The Yard of Ale Restaurant in Piffard, New York, stored for about a year, and in the summer of 2010 was cleaned up and moved to the front of the Yard of Ale, where it remains.