The “Bicentennial Bells” will head to a workshop in Ohio for repairs.

City Manager Mike Holtz said the city approached the DeFrees Family Foundation a few months ago, seeking funds to rehabilitate the bells

“They graciously gave money for the bells,” he said.

The rehabilitation, expected to cost around $40,000, will see new electronics installed in the bells.

Pictured are workers removing the bells from their high homes. The “Bicentennial Bells” taken down Thursday are each well over 100 years old and weigh in the area of 700 pounds.

“When they come back in the spring,” Holtz said, “(they will) be able to play 100 different chimes” and be programmable.

There are several sets of bells in Warren but Holtz said these are different as “working bells.”

According to a brochure from the Warren County Historical Society, the bells were the idea of Joseph DeFrees, best known today for the Family Center that bears his name.

An engineer by trade, philanthropy was at the heart of who he was, establishing the Family Foundation that bears his name — and funded this project.

The bells at city hall were part of a project to erect three bells to honor local firefighters, according to the WCHS brochure.

“Joe’s dream eventually became 24 bells throughout the City of Warren,” the brochure states. “The three bells, located in front of the municipal building, were originally from Warren’s fire departments Centennial, Struthers and Central.”

The Centennial bell weighs 700 pounds and dates to 1868. The Struthers bell was six years older and brought to the city after it was discovered at the Birdsall Eddy Girl Scout Camp. The Central bell dates to 1884 and the three bells were placed at the city building in 1976.

Other bells include “Shrine of Socrates at 419 W. Third Ave., “Beech Street Bells” at Fourth Ave. and Beech St., “Truth, Right and Good” at the corner of the Fourth Ave. and Beech St. and “A Touch of Modern Art” Fourth Ave. and Union St.

The remaining bells can be found at the Hazeltine House on Pennsylvania Ave., which was a Warren County Historical Society museum at the time the tower was raised in 1976.