Real bells ring for the first time in NC State's Bell Tower
For decades, North Carolina State University has had a bell tower with no bells -- that changed on Friday.
Posted — UpdatedThe sound of actual bells rang on Hillsborough Street for the first time before the university's graduation.
The sound previously heard every half hour is simply a recording spilling from speakers controlled by a panel in another building.
"For the most part, people thought they were real bells. I mean, they sounded like real bells," said Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs emeritus at N.C. State.
But they were not. The tower's bells were an imitation.
The builders planned on bells, but during the Great Depression that cost real money.
"Back in 1937, so they didn't put them in," said Stafford.
Stafford said he has a genuine love for N.C. State.
"I have a very strong and very personal attachment to the bell tower," he added.
Stafford said it put a song in his heart when alumni Bill and Frances Henry made a financial donation to buy 55 real bells for the tower.
Their gift went toward a $6.5 million restoration of the tower and its plaza. The work is complete on what is called Henry Square.
"Who will hear the bells toll in their honor? Who will come celebrate that great achievement?" wondered Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin on Friday.
The tower's cornerstone was laid 100 years ago to honor N.C. State alumni killed in World War I.
"Most of the students and folks who work on this campus have no idea this is a military memorial," said Stafford.
They know now as the bells chime with the songs of the Armed Forces.
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