On the hour, the Coughlin Campanile bells play from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. A sound the campus has not heard since 2019.
“I really enjoy the campanile bells,” senior ag business and animal science double-major, Aubrina Melville said. “They make me smile as I walk to and from class and they give me a little bit of joy on the bleaker days.”
While the bells’ sound can be heard all across campus, there are actually no physical bells present at the top of the Campanile.
“There used to be sixteen actual bells with hammers that would ring. “Old Faithful” that used to be in Old Central bell tower had been relocated to the top of the Campanile and that would also chime,” Jonathon Meendering, Architect and Director of Planning and Design, said. “Now there are actually no physical bells in the top of the Campanile.”
The bell sound students hear as they walk to and from their classes is actually a carillon that operates with an electronic controller, speakers and amplifier by the company Schulmerich.
The Schulmerich carillon offers a song library and programmable bells that connect to a keyboard that helps replicate the bells’ sound from atop the Campanile to reach across campus.
“Our system includes the 61-note portable keyboard,” Meendering said.
The Campanile bells can play Yellow and Blue, Ring the Bells and also have 3,000 other programmed songs.
The controller, a piece of the carillon, is a computer that connects to the keyboard to maintain the scheduling of when the bells ring and what songs are programmed to play during the scheduled time.
Now, the controller and amplifier are housed in a room filled with other electronics in Lincoln Hall, while the speakers are located in the Campanile.
The bells’ sound stopped when phase one of renovations began in Lincoln Hall. The controller for the sound system, when it became a digital system, moved to Lincoln Hall. The controller was housed in a storage closet to be controlled and maintained by the music school.
Lincoln Hall’s phase one renovations began in 2019. When the construction crew began renovating the second floor to add restrooms, the controller was then moved to make room for the renovations.
Through this process, the cable that connected the controller to the carillon in the Campanile got cut. At that point, moving the controller to a new location had to wait as the second phase of construction in Lincoln Hall was going to take place upon completion of phase one. Therefore, the chimes of the bells were silent until their return at the beginning of this year.
“I like [the bells] because it reminds me when I was in Germany and they would have clock towers go off every hour,” recent nursing graduate Anika Fast said, “It’s a fun way to keep track of time.”
CAMPANILE BELLS CHIME AGAIN
Construction brings back a sound not heard since 2019
Natalie Dean, Managing Editor
January 28, 2025
Coughlin Campanile as it nears the end of it’s outdoor restoration on October 14th, 2024
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About the Contributor
Natalie Dean, Co-News Editor
Senior, Natalie Dean is the Co-News Editor for the Collegian. She is from Spearfish, South Dakota. She majors in Journalism with minors in Digital and Social media and Public Relations.