About 1859, the Chickasaw government purchased an iron bell to hang in the first Chickasaw Capitol Building, where it summoned tribal members to special meetings and signaled emergencies in the community. By the type of ring made by the appointed toller, the community knew whether it announced a meeting or a death, and Chickasaw people within earshot stopped their daily activities and traveled to the capitol to hear vital information affecting their lives. The bell, standing two feet tall and weighing about 300 pounds, remained there until 1890, when it was removed and placed on the stump of a large Bois D’Arc tree near the capitol building. After construction of the new capitol in 1898, it remained outside the building suspended from a tripod. On November 16, 1909, the bell was sold at auction to Emma Willis, daughter of R.M. Harris, governor of the Chickasaws from 1896 to 1898. After the purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Willis moved the bell to Kingston, Oklahoma, where it was placed on a stand in the courtyard of the First Methodist Church and remained there until 1937 or 1938, when it was hung in the church belfry. Hellen Willis Louis, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Willis, requested that the church return the bell to the Chickasaw people, and this was finally accomplished in 1974. The bell was placed back in front of the Capitol Building for the annual meeting on October 3, 1998, to celebrate the Capitol Centennial, and the Chickasaw people once again were to hear the old bell calling them to a meeting in the Chickasaw Nation.