Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / July 21, 1983, edition 1 / Page 37
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ower By LES HAMASHIMA Tar Heel Staff Writer I climbed up the black, wrought-iron ladder, bolted into the North wall and poked my head through the opening in the ceiling into the room above. Each brick wall of the tiny cubi cle was dominated by a 9-foot wide, translu cent clock dial made of glass. A red, steel ped estal in the center of the room supported a small electric motor that radiated a spindly arm to each of the massive dials. I pulled my self up into the room to get a closer look, and as I walked over the cement floor, carcasses of flies and wasps crunched under my shoes. The room was warm and musty in this most recog nized, and least traveled, landmark in Chapel Hill: the Morehead-Patterson Memorial Tow-, er. The tower, commonly known as the Bell Tower, is the result of persistent efforts by John Motley Morehead III, an industrialist and founder of the Morehead Foundation; In the late 1920s, Morehead wanted to donate DLCDn COUNTY musical chimes to be placed in South Building on the UNC campus. The UNC Board of Trustees rejected his offer because Morehead stipulated that the name of South Building be changed to Morehead Hall in return for the gift. The trustees felt that the name South Building had already reached historical and traditional significance. Morehead tried again the next year, offering the same donation but in a different location. Construction of the library was nearing com pletion and the plans called for a copper dome to be fitted over the rotunda. Morehead pro posed that his tower of chimes be placed on top of the library instead of the golden dome. William M. Kendall, consulting architect on the library project, argued that fitting the li brary with a smooth copper dome would be more aesthetically pleasing than a tower. Also, the University librarian, Louis Round Wilson, said that it would be difficult for students to study in the library with bells clanging over head. Morehead's donation was refused. v by Derke Breathed m h Tt'i6ATKRCCAl.f 1 AT 16A5T f. ... r - e;&,ua&e,oy r, - r ' r , r HT5V'(TH Ttterswr., 30 " ' Www ' 5" 1 Ff"VWffL wI.a V jf am actually. KIV . tPOm irHii n "V Hi M. hang-up. 1 j -TS m- -m i':; OUT ANY WORE Of MY AfWfcTSES TONIGHT... .tum, JUST... JUST PR0WS6 UJCm'W'Y MfcONfc THING., f St WHATEVER VOV 00. V0H7 OVT MASTASSW KIN5KI YcAn! TO &W6 A I SWEPISH MASSA&e : mm CKAY&Y5... ah cri'nmf OH AWYTHW& wt W I WT THAT , fluJR ' 1 : ri Li . MAI ..wttha r "L t I . tas'a.i.iiifiwW2L. A&W - V;2 GOT , C0T5A eX5 A BOOK. v. k mi K rr. Mi Books m&fwmi cocks f CAT COCKS HXt BQV&l , A - 1 fwcmwe, cawaion '8 was IN HjH OtAR... - Wfi " I hOK HE 5 efcAKlNO'. . , TO M; . - . HC ' . .; "v . WAS TAKiNO A ..ANP (F tCTEP. I afctWTO PUSH UWStA -TION WR tVC UOAC Htwe ro&sewoM coop Of 50mm A til I TANK HEAVENS. 6A?00KAS... WHAT&R . . . . FOR? I SI M II 1 V ii i-Mt- ; N. KM k 3r j KNiiiiKs 1. j7 opus. Htsan KW) HIS flKS! CAVJ'AI&WNO TO THt vecia-. IWTIREST 0XA).. i fSfrTTHiS NO. J2L til PHO- M KV'I K KNI III HS fT7 n a 16B The Tar Heel Thursday, July 21, 1983 vice pReaPtmiAt twnmz On5 WAS HANPUNe MiNurt crises eefoe HrrnNO THta'CAMmiWiTRAlt... KNV5IHGY f ' I Docte I'PJUST UK A wova. THATVee. -ANTVJUeS. MP Of COAVZ.. PReSfftNTlAt CANPIPAT6 UMeXllUR 15 GHL fOUVCm WHO'S N6V6K FOR GOTTEN HIS R00T5... PSSbJ' VOO-HOO? CAMPAIGN me.' ZZLZ The University finally agreed to permit Morehead to build a structure directly south of . the new library. Morehead contacted Rufus Lenoir Patterson II, an inventor and friend, and proposed that they make a donation joint ly in honor of their families. Enthusiastically, Patterson agreed and construction began on an elaborate campanile of Italian and Roman design that would cost almost $1 million to build. On Nov. 26, 1931 Thanksgiving Day the 172-foot Morehead-Patterson Memorial Tower was officially donated to the University. Frank Patterson, then associate editor of the Baltimore Sun, presented the Bell Tower to N.C. Governor O. Max Gardner, who re ceived the gift on behalf of the State and the University. The tune "The Bells of St. Mary" was the first public performance of the caril-. . Ion. Since the dedication of the Bell Tower, song selections have changed, and many old tradi tions have died. The most requested songs in 1947 were "Chopsticks" and "La Cucaracha," said Kenneth Ross, who was Master Bellringer that year. His name and those of 25 other Master Bellringers are inscribed in gold-leaf on a plaque inside the tower. : There is no official bellringer anymore be cause the chime system is programmed by a spindle player, similar to the operation of a music box. There are nine selections, including "Greensleeves," "Scotch Medley" and "Way faring Stranger." The 12 original bells are still used, but by modern standards the musical ability of only 2 b$lls is poor. Al Marien, a recently retired pNC music professor, said in an article for the AlumnifJews that the Bell Tower has "more alue as an antique than a musical instrument." t Major John Yesulaitis, director of the UNC University Band, is one of the few interested in the welfare of the Bell Tower's chimes. "I took this over because no one else wanted to," he said. Yesulaitis is also dissatisfied with the limited number of notes because there are many tunes beyond the chimes range. He would like to purchase additional bells and be lieves that with the addition of 23 bells the sys tem could become one of the most significant in the South. The cost of such a project this year would be about $80,000, he said. Some of the musical qualities may be lack ing, but the physical structure of the Carolina brick and Indiana limestone tower is in fine condition, said Ed Sanders, maintenance su perintendent of the physical plant. He said that vandalism is not a problem because "they'd rather do something to the Old Well or South Building." On one occasion Sanders was concerned about the welfare of the grounds. "In the late 1970s the Bell Tower was the meeting place for the High Nooners. The High Nooners vere t ..A REASONABLY 1EPKW6 TASK TO SAYTHe ttAST... 4$ sntn iv I1 M KYI K frvfJ KnA V : ...IN &H0KT. " V GeNTLMN-.I BOTH Of TVtW. V.I Vs 4 rili tOCVLTf Of 6CINR Iff t Handed PCNTfSTS T0NS(L5 ISN'T THIS ? mo.: At KYI K A3r )-. fjgKNl 1 11 sLiH. f "5 r . The Bell Tower pot smokers that gathered around the Bell Tower at noon to get high and celebrate the tolling of the 12 strikes of. noon. Sometimes there were up to 1,200 people around the tow er trampling the boxwoods." Embarrassed UNC officials and police scared most of the High Nooners away by snapping pictures of people at the gatherings and threatening to give the photographs to newspapers. At dusk, the shadows of the arches that line the open arcade fall across the golden-brown granite slab of dedication. Carved into the crystalline stone are the words: "To perpetu ate the memory of those members of the More head and Patterson families who have from the foundation of this University been associ ated with its activities as trustees, teachers of students. . ." At 9:06 p.m. the 12 bells, each inscribed with the name of a Morehead or a Patterson, chime their final melody of the day over the campus of UNC. n n 39! m itium hi youm
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 21, 1983, edition 1
37
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