Wallet Card in Chicago: The Weather Bell

Bell Federal Savings & Loan was a Chicago financial institution founded in 1925 by employees of Bell Telephone. In the 1950s the company began installing "weather bells" at its branch locations. They would turn yellow if the weather was getting colder, red if warmer, and green if no change. At it's peak in the 1960s there were at least nine of these bells throughout the city. A victim of the S&L crisis, Bell Federal was eventually acquired by Bank of America in 1996. Though most of the bells are long gone, this one at Clark and Monroe still exists (and still works!).