FARMINGTON — The 3,000 lb. bronze bell installed at the Old South Congregational Church in 1888 was removed Thursday to be shipped to Ohio for repairs.

“In its present condition, it is not safe to ring,” church member Marilyn Hylan said. It’s worn and in need of restoration, she said.

For more than a year, church members have gathered information on what needed to be done and estimates on the cost of restoration versus installing an electronic ringer. They raised about $30,000 to restore it, because they weren’t interested in an electronic ringer, Hylan said.

On Thursday morning, steeplejacks from Mid-Maine Restoration of Boothbay prepared the bell for removal, bringing it to the edge of the tower for a crane to bring it down about 50 feet and then load it on to a truck headed for Ohio, foreman Andrew Wilcox  said.

They anticipate the work will take six to eight weeks, but it could be longer,  depending on shipping. The shipping company will only bring it back to Maine when they have a load, she said.

The bell is in good shape but the tolling arm is cracked and broken and the yoke that holds the bell has deteriorated. The stanchion, or wooden frame around it, also needs some work. As the bell rings, it swings, creating stress. It could let go and fall down the tower to the basement, she said.

The new bronze bell was given to the church in October 1888 by Thomas Blake of Boston, Mass. The church’s first bell melted in The Great Fire of 1886 that destroyed the church along with most of downtown Farmington. The congregation decided to build a new church in 1887 and secured funding from all over the United States.

“The new church was dedicated on June 5, 1888, but did not have a bell to ring in a new era,” according to information Hylan gathered from the “History of the Old South Church, United Church of Christ, Farmington, Maine, 1814-1965,” written by parishioners Ben and Natalie Butler.

The Meneely Bell from Troy, N.Y., has a diameter of 53 inches and a wooden wheel with a diameter of 8 feet. It was toned to ring in harmony with bells at the Baptist Church on Academy Street and the Methodist Church across the street.

The steeplejacks will repair the steeple, build a new stanchion for the bell and reset the bell when it returns, Wilcox said.

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