The Bell Tower

If the campus had a heart, it would resemble the Bell Tower’s spire. Since 1931, the bells have rung across campus, marking time’s passing with clangs every quarter hour. Its ringing is part of our collective identity.  

“The Bell Tower defies the cold, the rain, the uncertainty of exam week,” Bob Quincy wrote in “They Made The Bell Tower Chime.” “Its pleasant, friendly calm is an assurance that all is well.”

But its purpose was originally more pragmatic than spiritual. Before the mid-19th century, most people didn’t wear watches, so towns, churches and universities built clock towers to keep people on schedule.

The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower was finished nearly 83 years ago on Nov. 26, 1931, to commemorate alumni John Motley Morehead and Rufus Lenoir Patterson.

Morehead was the grandson of Governor John Motley Morehead, North Carolina’s 29^th governor. Morehead was a successful chemist and later an ambassador to Sweden. He inherited a significant fortune, which he devoted to philanthropic projects like the Morehead Planetarium.

Patterson, Morehead’s fraternity brother, only attended one year at UNC-CH and made his fortune inventing cigarette-packing machines for the American Tobacco Company.

The notable alumni offered to pay its $100,000 price tag, or $1.3 million adjusted for inflation. But deciding on the project and its location was difficult for the donors, and the story has become a campus legend.

“This is one of those really funny stories,” said Jessie Nerkowski, a campus tour guide, as she shouted over the Westminster Chimes.

“With the Bell Tower, he (Morehead) first tried to get it on top of South Building, but that didn’t happen,” Nerkowski said. “Then he tried to get it on top of Wilson library. Wilson was not going to have it; he wanted to get the last word, so he built it behind Wilson, and when you look behind it, it looks exactly like a dunce cap.”

But a visit to Wilson Library’s North Carolina Rare Books Collection reveals the less exciting, more complex truth.

Louis Wilson, a famous librarian and the namesake of Wilson library, wrote a chapter, “The Story of the Bell Tower,” in his memoir and described the difficulty of finding a location. First, Morehead offered to replace the South Building’s single bell — still in the rooftop copula — with a dozen-bell carillon if the school would rename it the Morehead Building.

The university declined his offer, refusing because of the building’s historical significance. Morehead then campaigned for a carillon on Wilson Library’s dome, but Wilson vetoed, later writing, “The ringing of the bells and chimes immediately above the reading rooms of the libraries in working hours (would have) played havoc with mental concentration and quiet study.”

Morehead finally settled on a location behind the library that satisfied the librarian. Wilson never mentions a spiteful dunce cap but praises the beauty of the Bell Tower in his memoir. The dunce cap legend is unlikely, but the facts can’t stop a good story.

Wilson made a good point about the bells playing havoc with mental concentration and quiet study. Although not on the library roof, the Bell Tower stands next to three major libraries

The 14 bells can be heard in classrooms, through walls, dorm rooms — and they don’t pause for exams or tests.

Brett Bowman, a UNC junior, said he finds the bells irritating.

“I f— hate the Bell Tower because it plays the d— songs when I’m trying to study in Davis Library,” Bowman said. “Its only use is putting a cute cap on Wilson.”

Students probably share Bowman’s resentment toward the incessant ringing, but fewer would agree it’s only a cute cap.

Aside from keeping the time, the tower is an important part of campus traditions. Seniors climb the tower before May’s commencement. A student group, the Order of the Bell Tower, is tasked with keeping these university traditions alive.

“Since the Bell Tower is an iconic symbol of the university and tradition, we host events centered around it,” said Adeline Dorough, a UNC junior and member of the Order of the Bell Tower. 

Dorough also said the organization has “climbs” where people can see campus from the top during football games and relights the clock faces to begin the academic year.

She said she also enjoys its music.

“I love having the 15 minute reminders, and I really love when we play cool as crap songs out of the blue,” Dorough said. “That's the best.”

The bells were originally played by hand, but since 1998, a computer system has controlled them. It plays songs automatically or through a small keyboard, and UNC still appoints a student to master bell ringer — albeit now the job requires only pressing a button.

The Bell Tower is among a few across the nation that still has real bells. Ten of the 17 UNC-system colleges have clock towers, while only two, UNC-CH and UNC-Greensboro, have real bells. N.C. State University is installing bells, but the rest use speakers.  

The 10 bell towers reflect their respective campus’ vibes. A snowflake light, for example, tops Appalachian State University’s bell tower. East Carolina University built a multimedia bell tower in 1997. The clock face features video screens and clowns that emerge from 3-feet doors at midnight.

Like the university, UNC’s bell tower is the oldest of the state’s public universities. Its gothic architectural style, columns, arches and simple brick façade give reflect both the grandiose Victorian and simple Georgian buildings in the Quad and Polk Place.

“Its bells sound the hours, and the melodies float out across woods and streams and hills that surround Chapel Hill with their perpetual charm,” Wilson wrote.

With this perpetual charm, Morehead and Patterson built a clock that’s truly timeless.