Original bell, clockworks and statue brought back to Athens City Hall after restoration

A Government Channel film produced with the City of Athens documents the recovery and restoration of several signature artifacts tied to Athens City Hall’s identity: a bronze bell cast in 1875, the city clockworks (removed in 1919), and a zinc figurative statue that production materials refer to as Hei (also rendered Heibi/heeie in archival labels).

"The bell would ring six times in succession... followed by a number of rings to represent the ward of the city," the documentary recounts, showing archival maps and photographs of the bell’s role in summoning volunteer firefighters. The program documents that the clockworks were removed in 1919 and transferred to the county courthouse, leaving the city hall clock faces inoperative for about a century.

Interview footage shows a large bronze bell returned to the building and modern, state-of-the-art mechanisms installed to run the four clock faces. The film also describes how the bell and clock components were restored — work that included transport to local restoration facilities and collaboration with area craftsmen. "So that's returned to its rightful home," one interviewee says of the bell’s reinstallation.

The production details recovery and repair of a zinc statue that once stood in front of the courthouse; the program recounts bringing the statue into the city building and arranging a final visit for longtime resident Mary Dials, who saw the statue shortly before she died.

The documentary offers visual evidence — archival photos, Sanborn-style maps, and contemporary footage — to support these restorations; it does not present municipal votes or formal council actions tied to the projects within the program itself. Officials and historians in the film frame the restorations as part of broader reinvestment in the building’s historic role and community identity.