At the time of the construction of the “new sanctuary” (today’s sanctuary building) in the mid and late 1950s, Dr. Arthur L. Miller, then the senior pastor at Montview Church, approached my family and asked if we wanted to provide a “significant gift” to the building campaign, in addition to our capital campaign pledges.  After prayer and contemplation, our family agreed to donate the symphonic carillon system.  The installation of the symphonic carillon took place at the time of the construction of the “new sanctuary,” 1955-1958.  At the time of the dedication of the new sanctuary (over multiple Sundays in January and February of 1958) a special concert was held for the dedication of the symphonic carillon.  (Incidentally, a 33-vinyl album was cut of that concert involving the symphonic carillon and I have a copy of that vinyl album.)

At the time of the installation of the symphonic carillon a small console for playing the carillon was installed in the new sanctuary in a small room located just to the north of the great pipe organ console in the choir loft.  The carillonaire sat at a small wooden bench located before the console and struck each key on the console to create the sounding of the bells.  The speakers for the symphonic carillon are located in the very highest level of the Church Tower which is located at the corner of Montview Boulevard and Dahlia Street.  Above the highest level of the Tower where people can walk, there is a small permanently attached ladder leading to a trap door which opens into a loft area of the Tower.  It is in that loft area where the large loud speakers are located.

For the first few years following the dedication of the new sanctuary building (1958) it was one of the responsibilities of the church organist to play the carillon following the worship services on Sunday morning.  It was eventually decided that the carillon would only be played on “special occasions” – following Memorial Services, following Weddings, following special services on special days – Christmas, Easter, etc.  Eventually, late 1960s and throughout the early 1970s, the carillon bells were heard no more.  Times change; people change; staff members change; Montview clergy change, priorities change, but we were able to convince enough people that the carillon should be heard once again – July 4, 1976 – America’s Bi-Centennial. 

The console was dusted off and the amplifier was turned on and BELLS, BELLS, BELLS were heard all over the Park Hill Neighborhood, at exactly 12 noon on July 4th, celebrating the USAs 200th anniversary as a nation.  People were urged to gather around the base of the Tower to listen to patriotic songs being played by the carillonaire from the choir loft in the sanctuary building. 

Following the Independence Day Celebration in 1976, the bells went silent again for 3 years until June 16, 1979.  That was the date of my father’s (Foster Matchett, M.D.) Memorial Service.  The bells were played during Foster Matchett’s interment in the Montview Garden Columbarium.  It was quite a moving situation for his family.  My father had been frustrated over the years by how rarely the bells had been played after they were installed twenty years earlier.  He had hoped they would be played every Sunday and on other special occasions.

It was shortly after my father died that a gift from his estate was given to the church for the purpose of refurbishing the bells and to “fully automate” the system.  No longer would there be a need for the bells to be played by a person; now the bells could be programmed to play virtually any type of music – sacred or secular – and at any time, all without anybody sitting at the console in the choir loft. 

Even with the best electronic systems available in the year 1980, the system was in need of repair and refurbishment by the mid-1990s.  The Lupberger Family, Ed and Margo, long-time Montview Church members, had loved hearing the bells from their Park Hill home and they were concerned that the symphonic carillon was heard less and less, and eventually not at all.  It was on the occasion of the death of Ed Lupberger that his family gave a gift to Montview Church, in “honor of Foster Matchett,” to refurbish the symphonic carillon and to get the bells playing once again. 

Finally, in the mid-aughts (about 2005) the bells needed refurbishing once again.  On the occasion of the death of long-time Montview member Jerry Protextor , the Protextor family dedicated a significant gift to the church for the specific purpose of “getting those bells playing,” once again.  Additional work was done on the electronics and a “fully automatic” system – with computer chips and timing devices and new switches – was created to make the playing of the symphonic carillon failproof and without any human intervention. 

As it is now configured, to the best of my knowledge, the Montview Church Symphonic Carillon is a totally-automated, totally-independent system (not in any way connected to the great pipe organ).

So, there you have it, the story of the symphonic carillon at Montview Church.  A 60+ year history of three different families, each contributing to the creating of what you year today, an automated system with loud speakers located in the highest level of the Tower and the electronics located somewhere in the sanctuary building.  Just like so much of today, what once took a human to operate is now done by an electronic device filled with chips.

 – Written by Robert Matchett, Montview Church Historian and Chairman of the Montview Heritage Committee

 – Coordinated by Ron Brady