EAST HAMPTON, Conn. – The 180-year-old New England company that made the little bell that rings every time an angel gets its wings in the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" has resumed production in time for the holidays, four months after its 19th-century factory burned down.

Over the past few weeks, employees working at a temporary factory set up in a rented warehouse across the street from Bevin Bros. Manufacturing Co. began filling customer orders, including the annual one from the Salvation Army for the steel and brass bells it uses during its kettle drives.

The resumption of bellmaking, announced with fanfare Wednesday by Matthew Bevin, the sixth-generation owner of Bevin Bros., was welcomed by many in Belltown USA, as this town of 13,000 people 20 miles from Hartford has long called itself. Bevin Bros. is the last bell manufacturer in a town that had more than 30 of them generations ago.