The El Camino Real bell

After an exasperating trip from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Peninsula that found her frequently confused by directions or taking the wrong roads in her search for the ruined missions, she vowed to do something to aid future travelers on the El Camino Real.

Whoever first used the name "El Camino Real” (the Royal Road) is lost to history, but it was an apt designation for the time-honored path blazed in the 1700s by the explorers who traveled up and down California’s coast. It became a lifeline between the missions. It survives today despite the demise or neglect of many of the missions that were established by the early Catholic Fathers.

The term "El Camino Real” for this road became popular in the early 1900s. The Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West and Mrs. Forbes began placing 100-pound clapperless bell replicas hung on a gooseneck of a seven-foot tall iron pipe. The enthusiasm of identifying El Camino Real in this manner and designating directions and distances to the missions along this path spread throughout California. Clubs such as the El Camino Real Association sprang up to encourage the purchase and erection of a bell every mile from Los Angeles to San Francisco. On Aug. 15, 1906, the first bell was dedicated at the Plaza Church in Los Angeles and in 1909 one was erected in San Mateo County at Redwood City. The 700-mile route was completely marked by 1913.

Due to the heavy demand for souvenir bells at the missions, Mrs. Forbes, in 1914, founded the California Bell Company to produce souvenirs and full-sized bells for sale.

Unfortunately, by the end of this century, many of the 450 bells erected had been removed due to widening and modernization of the road. After each widening of the heavily-traveled El Camino Real, a few bells were replaced, but many were lost to collectors or the scrap heap. In 1933, the California Division of Highways took over care of the bells. In 1963, $19,000 was granted by the California Highway Commission for 81 replica bells for replacement of ones that disappeared along the El Camino Real. In San Bruno, a Mission Bell was dedicated at the San Bruno City Hall by the Anne Hutchinson Chapter, Colonial Dames XVII, on Feb. 22, 1963. Mrs. Roland Wilford of Burlingame, state chair of Restoration and Marking of Colonial Shrines was in charge and Father Moholoy, OFM, vice postulator of the Canonization of Father Junipero Serra, dedicated and blessed the bell. Mayor Maurice Hamilton accepted the bell for San Bruno. San Bruno has another bell in front of the city-owned cable TV at Taylor Boulevard and El Camino Real.

In the 1990s, there was another revival movement to replace old bell sites with modern inexpensive cement bells that look like the early bells. The California Federation of Women’s Clubs was very active in this project. In South San Francisco, a bell was placed along El Camino Real in front of the Safeway store and another was placed at the corner of El Camino Real and Hickey Boulevard. Many more have since been replaced to enhance the identification of the famous landmark road.

A tradition that began with the good intentions of a lady from Los Angeles to ease the anxiety of automobile touring and indicate directions to historic missions has become to us a nostalgic symbol of the El Camino Real.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal.