The Enduring Legacy of the Memorial Belltower at NC State University
Any time that NC State wins a major sporting event, tradition calls for its Memorial Belltower to be lit up a glowing red. Hundreds of Wolfpack fans crowd around it chanting, “Go Pack,” and throwing up the Wolfpack hand signal.
The North Carolina State University Memorial Belltower (officially the Memorial Tower, informally known as the Belltower) is a 115-foot-tall (35 m) free-standing bell tower on the Main Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
A Symbol of Remembrance and Celebration
The Memorial Belltower, a towering structure of granite and concrete, stands as a poignant symbol of remembrance and a vibrant beacon of celebration at North Carolina State University. Its history is deeply intertwined with the university's identity, serving as a memorial to alumni who sacrificed their lives in World War I and as a rallying point for the entire campus community.
The Belltower is illuminated with red floodlights on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, during spring and winter commencements, for the inauguration of the President of the University of North Carolina or for the installation of the Chancellor of NC State, and on the university's Founders Day, an annual day of remembrance honoring university founders and deceased members of the North Carolina State University community. It is also illuminated to celebrate certain academic and athletic achievements, including induction of N.C. State faculty into a National Academy, the awarding of a Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, National Medal or Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, or the awarding of a North Carolina Award or a Governor’s Award for Excellence, among other distinctions.
Origins: A Tribute to Fallen Alumni
After World War I, Vance Sykes, a member of the N.C. State Class of 1907, wrote to college alumni secretary E.B. Owen concerning the building of a monument to honor N.C. State alumni who had been killed in the conflict. This was credited with inspiring a movement within the college community toward the monument's planning and construction.
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The idea for the tower originated years earlier with Vance Sykes, of the class of 1907, to commemorate alumni killed in World War I. In 1949, the tower was officially dedicated to honor NC State alumni killed in World War I.
A five-person Memorial Committee was soon formed, headed by Carroll Lamb Mann (1877-1961), a graduate of the Class of 1899 and a professor of civil engineering, with E. B. Owen as secretary and treasurer. At a meeting of the N.C. State College Alumni Association of New York on October 3, 1919, a resolution was proposed and passed "that the N.C. State Alumni Association of New York go on record as favoring the erection of a suitable memorial to the State men who lost their lives in the recent war.
On March 22, 1920, the Memorial Committee unanimously resolved to raise $30,000 ($289,000 in 2018 values) to erect a 90-foot-tall (27 m) bell tower on the N.C. State campus as a lasting tribute to alumni "who gave their lives in the World War." The committee estimated the tower would cost "in the neighborhood of $10,000," ($96,500 in 2018 values) with the clock costing $2,400 and a set of chimes at around $1,500. As of May 1920, $7,000 had been pledged by college alumni toward the memorial fund, along with less than $6,000 in cash donations. William Henry Deacy of the W. W.
On November 9, 1920, Deacy visited the N.C. State campus and consulted with members of the Memorial Committee, by which time plans had been made to lay the tower foundation, with the cornerstone to be laid during the May 1922 commencement week. The final design was for a 115-foot-tall (35 m) bell tower built from local granite and holding an initial carillon of 10 bells with the intention of eventually having a 54-chime carillon. After careful consideration, including soliciting inputs from faculty members and J.P.
The tower shaft was designed with a combination of semi-Romanesque Revival features and Collegiate Gothic verticality by William Henry Deacy of the W.W. Leland Studios in New York City. The clock section and the top of the tower were designed in 1935-36 by the North Carolina State department of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and by the N.C. State College architectural department.
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Construction and Dedication
Construction of the 115-foot-tall granite and concrete Belltower - which stands at the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Pullen Road on NC State’s North Campus - began in 1920 but was not finished until 1937. This was due to setbacks during the Great Depression and during World War II.
The tower foundation, with a final area of 48 square feet, was completed by the May 1921 commencement, with the addition of steps on each side of the base increasing the dimensions of the base to 62 square feet. On May 30, 1921, the Alumni Association decided to build the first section of the tower to a height of 18 feet (5.5 m), with subsequent construction based on the availability of funds. Ultimately, the Memorial Committee decided to build that year to the water table, a height of about 14 feet (4.3 m). Though just over $19,000 in pledges had been received by then, with $8,000 collected, estimated project costs for completing the tower had risen to $75,000 ($849,000 in 2018 values).
The cornerstone of the Memorial Belltower was laid on November 10, 1921 with Masonic rites conducted by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina. Oliver Max Gardner, a former lieutenant governor and future Governor of North Carolina, gave the formal address dedicating the memorial, with over 3,000 college students and alumni in attendance. The first section of the Belltower was completed the following month by the J.D.
Following the completion of the tower foundation and base, construction stopped for over two years, though fundraising efforts continued. By early 1926, the Memorial Committee was able to build a further 10-foot (3.0 m) section of the tower, with construction entrusted to the J.E. Beaman Construction Company of Raleigh. Graduating classes continued to make pledges for finishing the tower project, though construction again stalled during the Great Depression. Finally, in 1934, the Memorial Committee decided to request federal funding to complete the tower, as it was feared the project would otherwise be delayed indefinitely. In October 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) granted $37,000 ($543,000 in 2018 values) to finish the stonework and complete the remaining 81 feet (25 m) of the tower shaft. In addition, fundraising efforts had generated $40,000 in pledges. Construction of the tower resumed on April 7, 1936.
The stonework was finished in 1937, with student honor societies and the Class of 1938 donating the clock, followed by the Class of 1939's donation of floodlights.
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The clock section consists of a four-faced granite clock 4.0 feet (1.2 m) wide by 7.5 feet (2.3 m) high. The bronze numerals on each clock face were cast by the N.C.
The Memorial Bell Tower was dedicated with former Governor R.
The Shrine Room: A Sacred Space
“On Fame’s eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread,And Glory guards, with solemn round,The bivouac of the dead.”
These words, from the poem “Bivouac of the Dead” by Theodore O’Hare, are engraved onto a large backlit plaque inside what’s known as the “The Shrine Room,” or the space inside the tower’s base. Also on this plaque are the names of students who died during World War I. Officially, 33 NCSU alumni died in World War I, but the plaque bears 34 names. The name of George L. Jeffers was included accidentally. He had been reported as killed in action but in fact had not died, only been gravely wounded. To correct this, the university altered Jeffers’ name to “George E. Jefferson” to honor unnamed soldiers who died in the war. Next to this shrine is a large vase full of bright red poppies, a popular symbol of remembrance of World War I.
Although 34 alumni died in the war, the memorial plaque contains 35 names. George L. When the error was discovered, the university decided to alter the extra name beyond recognition. It was therefore changed to George E.
A Tower Without Bells: Fulfilling the Original Vision
One would assume that a bell tower has bells. But in fact, the Memorial Belltower initially did not. This was due to financing issues during its construction. Up until 2021, the chimes from the tower were produced by a speaker tucked away in Holladay Hall, which is next to the tower, said Stafford.
Initial plans for the tower as designed in 1920 included a carillon of 10 bells to be installed following the shaft's completion, with the intention of gradually increasing the number of bells to 54. Those plans were retained when an updated set of blueprints were drawn up in 1935-36. The carillon was to be played by a carillonneur from a chamber 85 feet (26 m) above the tower base. It was then thought the initial 10-chime carillon might be installed by 1939 given sufficient funds.
However, due to expense, a Schulmerich 25-bell electronic carillon was installed and dedicated in 1947. After the carillon began to be played regularly in 1958, a Maas-Rowe 64-bell electronic instrument was installed in 1960. In 1986, a Maas-Rowe Grand Symphony 246-bell instrument was installed and dedicated in honor of university chancellor Carey Bostian and his wife Neita. It was not until 2009 when students began a campaign to finish the belltower. Through their efforts, they purchased 5 bells; enough to play Westminster Quarters. These were kept in storage in D.H. Hill library until funding could be secured for their future installation.
In 2017, alumni Bill and Frances Henry of Gastonia were visiting the campus with their son when they learned from Stafford that the tower did not have bells. The couple paid to put 55 bells in the tower and to build a carillon room, said Stafford.
These bells were cast and the carillon installed by B.A. Sunderlin Bellfoundry. Tom Gurin, a composer and carillonneur, performed the inaugural recital on the completed carillon on Friday, May 14, 2021, at 3:00 PM. The program included compositions by Bach, Debussy, and Gurin, as well as the N.C.
A carillon is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard - composed of wooden pegs - with each key connected to a bell. The Belltower’s carillon room is located right below the bells, in a room at the height of the Belltower’s clock. The Belltower peals the Westminster Chimes melody hourly and then rings out on as many chimes as necessary to mark the time. It also rings out to mark every half hour. But nobody is sitting at the carillon all day playing. Instead, Stafford said it’s automatic, through electronic equipment programmed to get the carillon and the bells going.
Traditions and Celebrations
NC State fans celebrate at the Memorial Belltower on campus after the men’s basketball team’s 76-64 win over Duke to advance to the Final Four in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament on Sunday, March 31, 2024.
The tower began being lit red at the request of Marye Anne Fox, who joined NC State in 1998 as the university’s 12th chancellor and first woman chancellor. She hailed from the University of Texas at Austin, which has a tower that has been lit orange to celebrate academic and athletic accomplishments since 1937.
As for how it’s lit up, the tower is surrounded by four bronze towers with what look like gigantic bowls on top. Those hold floodlights. Turning them on and off is controlled through a phone by an NC State employee, Stafford said.
One lesser-known tradition involves graduation rings and the tower. Stafford said students once would go to a jewelry store to buy their class ring and there would be no ceremony. “Well, we changed that in 2005,” he said, and to buy a ring you would go through one company, Balfour. “So, the first year we did it when all the rings were produced and delivered to the campus, somebody in the alumni office thought that it would be cool to bring all the rings over to the tower,” he said. The rings would be left on the two benches in the Shrine all night long, he said.
Today, students who buy the ring are invited to pick it up at the tower - without looking at it, as it’s considered bad luck - and leave it all night long, Stafford said.
“Putting the rings there to spend the night” establishes a “symbolic connection between each student and their ring and all the alumni that have gone before,” he said. Students are also often seen taking pictures alongside the tower during commencement.
Since 2004, the Belltower has been the start- and endpoint for the Krispy Kreme Challenge, in which Challenge participants must run a 5 miles (8.0 km) road course leading to a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop, eat one dozen doughnuts, and complete the race in under 1 hour.
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