Six years in the works, final fundraising is underway to return the Northford Congregational Church (NCC) steeple to its original design and return its bell to ring again, possibly as soon as spring 2016.

Plans call for a 30-foot tall fiberglass replica steeple to top the church bell tower, which will once again be fitted with its 2,000 pound brass bell.

Designed by noted 19th century architect Henry Austin, NCC’s brownstone cathedral was raised in 1846, replacing a wooden meeting house. Austin’s design incorporated a fine, high wooden spire atop the church overlooking Northford village center. On Christmas Eve in 1906, a fire gutted the church, destroying the original roof, steeple, and interior. When NCC was rebuilt in 1908, Austin’s steeple design was replaced by a four-cornered topper with an abbreviated steeple cap.

In an interesting twist of fate, the NCC bell was also cast the same year the church was originally built, 1846; but is not original to the church. It was given by the family of 19th-century Northford native Jared Linsly, and installed in the church tower in 1927. In the ensuring decades, the huge bell (three feet across at its mouth), which carried a side-force of 3,000 pounds when swung and included 1,500 pounds of bell-hanging apparatus, took its toll on the wooden tower.

Conditions became so precarious that, by 2007, the bell had to be silenced. In 2009, restoration fundraising began, with the goal of topping the church with a replication of Austin’s original steeple (using modern materials), refurbishing the bell and installing a hi-tech ringing apparatus (the bell will sound, but won’t swing). The steeple restoration design has been crafted by Wallingford architect Daniel Webster Lyon, who researched Austin’s original church blue prints in the archives of the New Haven Historical Society.

The first step in the steeple replacement and bell refurbishment process took place on Nov. 9, 2010, when the bell and wooden steeple cap came down. In 2013, a Bell Tower Ad Hoc Committee was formed to continue the push to fund the restoration. Now, Bell Tower committee chairman and NCC council chairman Peter Jenkin reports the project’s fundraising effort is “two-thirds of the way there” and can cross the finish line this spring, with a final push of support.

“We are at a point where we will start construction next year, probably in the spring,” said Jenkin. “Our latest fundraising effort involves the stone monument we’re going to put in front of tower. Anyone who donates $750 to the project; we’re going to put their name on a bronze plaque on the monument; so they’re going to be able to be a part of history.”

Contributions from individuals, organizations, groups and businesses are being sought. As evidenced by the groups represented on the Bell Tower committee, restoring NCC’s iconic, steepled silhouette has town-wide support. The committee includes NCC church members as well as members from the North Branford Democratic Town Committee, North Branford Republican Town Committee and Totoket Historical Society.

“We’ve all been working together to raise funds to get this replaced,” said Jenkin.

Tax-deductible contributions to Northford Congregational Church (note Bell Tower Fund in memo) can be sent c/o Northford Congregational Church, P.O. Box 191, Northford, CT 06472. For more information, call (203) 234-7794.