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For Whom the Bell Tolls
May 4, 2016 | Amollie Stoermer, Benjamin Cook and Vian Trinh.
Truman State University’s bell tower has stood as a stately time-piece since 1992. However, its history and the origin of its tone remains a mystery to students.
MADE BY AMOLLIE, BEN AND VIAN
AS FINAL FOR MEDIA WRITING CLASS
An inside look of the bell tower
1/5
Ruth Towne, a former Dean of Graduate Studies at Truman State, envisioned a bell tower on Truman’s campus after attending the University of Missouri. The bell tower there reminded Towne of the church bells she heard as she grew up in her hometown of Kirksville, and according to the book, Founding the Future, she believed the Truman’s environment would be greatly enhanced by one. Upon her retirement in 1988, Ruth Towne directed a large amount of her $1 million financial donation to the installation of the bells and carillon.
Truman State’s bell tower stands as a stately time-piece since 1992. Its history and the origin of its tone remains a mystery to students.
The speakers may not be the source of the bell’s hourly chime, but they do serve a purpose. Stored within the carillon’s computer system are dozens of digitally sampled sounds that mimic the full range of a 61-bell carillon.
After the construction of the tower in 1987, the carillon was installed in 1992 in conjunction with the tower’s formal dedication to the university. Truman officials planned on installing bells since the beginning of the Pickler renovations in 1987, but there wasn’t enough money left to install them. Shortly after retiring, Dean of Graduate Students, Ruth Towne, dedicated a portion of her financial contributions to installing a set of four bronze bells and an accompanying carillon. The carillon was a product of the Van Bergen Company of South Carolina, and the bells were cast in France by the famous Paccard-Fonderie de Clothes of Annecy. The bells chimed regularly since their installation until lightning struck the tower, disabling the carillon’s computer system in 1993. “When lightning struck it, it pretty much destroyed the original system. It’s been replaced, but it does not function nearly as well as the original system,” said Shirley McKamie, professor of musicology at Truman and the carilloneur for the bell tower since 2001. The bells were quickly repaired but stopped functioning again in 2009. The university decided not to repair the bells after receiving a $30,000 repair statement for the approximation of replacing the whole system. One year later, Truman contacted a different repair company that was able to fix the bells for only $3,000 for the substitute of several items only.
Since then, once a year, the university brings in a contractor from Indiana to conduct a routine check-up for maintenance purposes. However, students notice hearing the bells miss a chime or two during their toll. “In the last few years, I can remember that happening. It would only last for a day, and as far as I know, no one was called in to fix it,” Schneider said. “Our electricians just make sure there’s power to the system, but the work on the system itself is done by a contractor. We haven’t called him in now, besides his annual maintenance. If it happened in the last six months, I think it’s a problem that took care of itself.”
Bell towers are built less frequently than they once were due to cellphones and other technologies readily giving the time; however, for many campuses, they stand as a prominent focal point on campus. Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, MO, for example, is home to a bell tower of unusual design that is also the namesake of their top choir: the Northwest Tower Choir. However, the old adage, “Out with the old, in with the new,” certainly rings true with college campuses. Constantly evolving to lure incoming freshman with the newest technology and other assets, dated structures, such as bell towers, often get demolished to free up space for other projects.
According to McKamie, the President's Office usually asks her to play patriotic songs like the National Anthem, or classical melodies when the university is trying to stress special occasions for commemoration. The carillon is played very rarely nowadays. She remembers the last time she played the carillon to be after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Since its installation more than twenty years ago, students have formed speculation as to where the bell’s toll came from.According to an informal survey distributed to over 200 Truman students, over 50 percent said they thought the bell’s toll came from a set of speakers perched below the physical bells atop the tower. This is, however, not the case.
“The bells that sound on our one hour, half hour, and so on, are actual bells. They are all electronics that operate on strikers. The things that strike the bells, those are controlled electronically. It’s a hammer hitting a bell for the time,” said Karl Schneider, Director of the Physical Plant. “In addition to that, there’s an electronic sound system for what people call a carillon...There’s a keyboard in the basement of the library where someon can go there and play. There's also electronic sequences for songs where someone can play live or they can play sort of like a recording."
The bell tower at the Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, MO is a popular feature of the campus among students and faculty.
Richard Coughlin, Dean of Libraries and Museums, said the Truman Bell Tower will remain on campus for years to come. “I think people like having the clock," Coughlin said,"I think people like seeing it and hearing the clock chime. I don’t expect any changes soon.”
Richard Coughlin, Dean of Libraries and Museums, believes that the bell tower will remain as the integral part of the campus.
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