Photos are courtesy of Adel Mayor Jim Peters

An iconic structure with the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn School District will undergo a renovation later this year. 

Adel Mayor Jim Peters says the ADM Alumni Association will be bringing a new victory bell to the community’s school district. He notes that the bell is currently being kept at the District Administration Center (DAC) in Adel, where the old high school was located. Peters acknowledges that the bell costs $47,465, which was purchased from The Verdin Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

He explains that at the November 2023 School Board meeting, the Board gave permission to the Alumni Association to raise money for the project. Peters details Monarch Materials Group donated $20,000, Iowa Spring Manufacturing contributed $10,000, and McClure Engineering also gave $10,000 to purchase the bell. He notes there was an old victory bell at the DAC from 1871 to 1986, and that was removed when the current ADM High School was built. He mentions that the Alumni Association won’t be getting rid of the old bell.

“There’s a metal fabricator down in DeSoto. This company is going to prepare the bell, so that it can be displayed. And then after that, we have an alum who’s married to an individual that works for a company that does blasting. They’ll blast it and have it look nice. And then they’ll coat it, and then I’ve talked with Olson Body and Paint about detailing it and then get it back to the fabricator, get it on a day frame and yolk, and then work with the school to display that somewhere.”

Peters confirms that the new bell will feature tiger pawprints along the top, along with the slogan of “Once A Tiger, Always A Tiger,” followed by a 3D Tiger Head logo in the middle, and the bottom will say “Adel-DeSoto-Minburn High School.” He adds that on the back of the bell will include the quote “Experiencing Success Today, Achieving Dreams Tomorrow,” with a walking tiger beneath that. Peters is suggesting to the board that since ADM is building a new high school, set to open in 2027 and a new athletic facility in 2032, he would like a way to make the bell mobile, instead of finding a permanent spot to install it.