After completing a common school education he went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to learn the foundry business from his uncle Alexander Bradley.

He then came to Ohio to take charge of the Whitley Foundry in Springfield and later moved on to Dayton.

On January 7, 1858, he began the operation of his own company called The C. S. Bell Company, in Hillsboro, starting with two employees and a weekly payroll of $7.00. That first year they processed eight tons of pig iron.

This early foundry was located in a frame building near the B & O Railroad depot. A few years later, a second foundry was built on the corner of Main and North West Streets.

James K. Marley became a partner and ran the showroom while Charles Bell operated the foundry. In 1869, Bell purchased Marley's interest and they continued to add more product items, which were to include Mogul stoves, caboose stoves, coffee hullers, pulpers, grinders, farm plows, and garden rollers.

The manufacture of bells began in 1875. The first year of bell sales were 1,000 units. By 1890, sales had increased to over 20,000 and fifteen sizes were being produced.

Charles Bell experimented with formulas of various metals, searching for an alloy cheaper to produce than brass, but more durable than iron.

After many failures he was successful and discovered that his new alloy could be pitched to create a vary mellow tone. It was this tone and durability that made his bells famous throughout the world.

Mr. Bell was a promnent citizen of Hillsboro, and is still regarded as one of the town's greatest benefactors.

He built Bell's Opera House in 1895 at a cost of $40,000.

They were the parents of five children: Charles E. Bell, Alice Morton Boyd, John Bell, Cora Evans Bell, and May Bell.

The modern descendant of the Bell Company, bears the same name but has moved to Tiffin, in northwest Ohio. All rights to the manufacture of bells were sold many years ago and the new company no longer is in that business.