Courageous men and women left their homelands seeking freedom and opportunity for better lives in a new country, and the bell from the Ilasco Slovak Lutheran Church symbolizes all immigrants who came to Ilasco and Ralls County, Missouri. At the Dr. Martin Luther Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Ilasco, the church bell rang every Sunday from Nov. 7, 1911 until the last service on April 25, 1971. The school, operating from 1917 to 1942, taught the language and culture of their parent's homeland each summer. Immigrants came to Ilasco with respect for religion, education, honesty and hard work, and they became part of a caring community of proud Americans.