David S. Spence/The Gazette Sandy Gilliam, wife of the associate pastor, photographs the steeple of Barnesville Baptist Church as it is removed Thursday.

The rope used to ring the huge bell was one of the first things the Rev. Randy Gilliam, the associate pastor, was shown upon arriving at the 130-year-old church more than three years ago. The pastor, the Rev. Joe Ivey, began working at the church only a few months before Gilliam's arrival and had never heard the bell toll; so the two decided to ring it.

"In just a few minutes several people showed up wondering what was wrong," Gilliam remembered Thursday. "They'd heard it as a distress signal."

The bell tolled each Sunday for years, signaling the start of Bible study and church services, Gilliam said. But about 18 months ago the structure of the tower, built of chestnut supports and oak boards in the early 1900s, began to show its age. It was listing to one side and rusted nails were beginning to release strips of siding. Bird nests and insects had also caused problems.

"We saw there was some weather damage and we knew the bell was very heavy so we stopped using the bell on a regular basis because of that," Gilliam said. Since then the bell has been rung only for weddings or other special events, he said, and has been sorely missed by the children who sometimes were granted the privilege of ringing the signal.

The approximately 100-member church is mostly made up of older residents from the northernmost reaches of the county, Gilliam said, although there are a handful of members from Damascus and Germantown.

"You get accustomed. It gets time for church and you think you should be hearing the bell," said building committee chairman Ralph Cooley, who has lived next door to the church since 1959. "It's more a psychological thing."

Cooley said he spoke to several local contractors about repairing the steeple before finding Vall Boring of Steeples Plus in Middletown who undertook the job.

Boring removed the old steeple Thursday with a crane, and in coming weeks will build a new spire of the same dimensions to be installed in its place. There will also be work done to repair the rusted aluminum roof in the area of the bell tower.

Boring said it would be about two months before he will be able to reinstall the approximately 50-foot steeple. He will use treated materials and structural steel in the construction, he said, but from the outside the steeple will look as it always has.

"Most people will look up and if they'd been gone a little while they would only notice that it was well-maintained," Boring said.

In addition the roof in the area of the steeple will be replaced with tin and the rear part of the building, a later addition, will have its roof painted green to match.

"We thought it would really dress the building up," Cooley said.

Money is being raised by the congregation to cover the $10,500 cost of the project. The fund stood at $6,484 at the end of April, but about half the amount needed came from an unexpected bequest from the late Harold Hargett of Boyds, Gilliam said.

Hargett, who died in April 2003, left money to the church in his will for reasons unknown, Gilliam said. Hargett was not a member of the congregation.

Cooley knew Hargett. "Tremendous individual ­ he was a friend to everyone...so it was appropriate that he would give us this tremendous gift," he said.

Meanwhile the church awaits its new pinnacle. The congregation's Web site has photos of the old steeple being removed. Cooley needs only to look next door, however, to be reminded of the changes of the past week.

"It really makes [the church] look quite different," he said. But Cooley said it was "a good feeling" to know that the steeple would return ready for coming generations of Barnesville residents to enjoy.