Why “The Bell”?

Gordon College’s official blog, The Bell, is named for one of the College’s most celebrated campus landmarks: the very bell that hung at the Clarendon Street Church in Boston, where A. J. Gordon’s Boston Missionary Training Institute was headquartered in the 1890s. An artifact from our founder’s admirable work, the bell serves as a symbol of his passion to commission and train Christians to take Christ to the world. In that spirit, the College’s yearly mission trips are dedicated and prayed over at this bell before the teams depart.

Located just outside the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel, the bell is the centerpiece for Clarendon Commons—a central gathering space where life is carried out in community. During the College’s 125^th anniversary year, the bell was refurbished and relocated to this location from its original campus home in the gazebo outside of Frost Hall. Now, the bell’s significant connection to A. J. Gordon is even more visible through its custom framework, which features an arch designed to resemble the shape of the windows in the Chapel named for him.

Dedicated alumni and friends brought the Clarendon Street Church bell to Gordon College in 1962 to serve as a link to the past. The church burned down later in 1982, and the remaining shell, located at 2 Clarendon Street, was reconstructed into a seven-story South End luxury apartment complex with 60 condominiums, called Clarendon Square. On the side of the complex, at the corner of Clarendon Street and Montgomery Street, is a plaque commemorating A. J. Gordon and his longtime church.

Like the bell serves as a central point of campus life, The Bell serves as a go-to resource for the stories of Gordon College—from remarkable students, alumni and faculty, to noteworthy news and events. Together, we celebrate the life of the College.