The rock mason has been engaged and donate steel elements should be arriving this week for the next phase of work on the Bell Tower being constructed on the grounds of the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church according to Pastor Orin Frank and Mayor Kenneth Edwards. The first cycle of the $50,000.00 grant Edwards applied for has been received and put to work on the massive concrete and steel footings and foundation work that is constructed so as to anchor the 36 foot tall structure of steel and cedar as well as the 400 pound cast steel bell.

(See Architect Concept Drawings Below)

Pastor Frank says that the committee from the church and the Historic Register Committee established by the Mayor are pleased to report that the work will resume as funds have been donated to the project and another cycle of grant money from the Arkansas Department of Heritage is due this month.

Mayor Kenneth Edwards has kept the grounds at the church for nearly ten years. He noticed that the Bell form the original church at Center and Bass Street was under the “new” 1922 building at Bass and Denver and not in use. Senator Ed Wilkinson suggested to Edwards that he pursue a grant from the Historic Preservation section at the Department of Heritage. “We knew when we got the plans back from the architect that the $50,000.00 grant would not be half enough”, said Wilkinson. “We got the metal donated from Davis Iron and Metal in Fort Smith and the utility companies have been very gracious in moving the lines around the project for free. That alone could have taken all the grant money”, Edwards added.

Pastor Frank will soon report to the Greenwood City Council on the progress. Though not a City project, the grant funds applied for by the Mayor were channeled through the city to the project and Pastor Frank reports that all funds are accounted for, some church funds will be used, donations have been made to the church for the project and no city money has been spent. Significant landscape changes are planned for the area surrounding the “Scots Kirk Bell Tower” that will surely be a tourist attraction in Greenwood once complete. This area owes much of its heritage to the Scottish farmers who settled here and founded a church or “Kirk” here in 1853 making it the oldest congregation in Greenwood. The Sanctuary was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.