After the creation of Houston County in 1903, the old Henry County branch courthouse on the public square in Columbia was converted into the Columbia Elementary School, and a bell tower with this bell was added above the main entrance of the two-story brick schoolhouse. The building was destroyed by fire during the night of May 21, 1947. After passing through several owners, the bell came into the possession of Mr. John Lowell Roberts of Abbeville. Through the arrangements of Mr. L.H. Adams and Mr. Perry Thomas, the Roberts family donated the bell to the Columbia Historical Society, and it was brought back to Columbia in 2006.