On a Mission to See California Mission Bells

California missions -- Mission bells mark the Kings Highway, El Camino Real which mostly travels the route of Highway 101 in California.

Perhaps you'll see uniquely shaped posts along the route with featuring a single bell attached to each post. It's a great program that Bay Area resident John Kolstad helped created to replace old, broken or stolen bells that were originally placed there. He manufactured the bells seen throughout California.

Koldstad purchased a bell company from Joe Rice, who was 84 at the time he finally decided to "hang it up," so to speak.

Kolstad, then a mortgage broker, purchased California Bell Co. and took on the mission to replace the state's network of highway bells. He worked with Caltrans and local organizations to install or replace bells along an historic route established by Spanish missionaries between 1769 and the early 1800s. The route was basically a day's walk between each mission a network they built.

Kolstad was featured on Huell Howser's California Gold, in numerous news and magazine articles, and has successfully made and installed 555 bells, which were never actually there during the mission era. Apparently Mrs. A.S.C. Forbes started the bell project in 1906.

Each bells weighs approx. 85 pounds. Produced at a foundry in California, the interesting bells feature raised letters spelling out "1906 & 1963" and "El Camino Real" on the front and "Copyrighted 1906" on the back.

Forbes made the bell design and worked to inspire women's clubs to spread the joy by installing bells where they could along the El Camino Real route. Today, we can thank this creative lady and can-do man who both understood the significance of California's history and embarked on journeys to preserve reminders of our past.