Iowa Heritage Digital Collections
State Library of Iowa

Campanile in winter, 1947

Campanile in winter, 1947

Title

Campanile in winter, 1947

Description

The Campanile in winter. The long distance photograph shows the top of the tower rising from a group of trees, which together with an overhanging branch close to the camera frame the Campanile as the focus of the shot. The clock shows 10:10.
Throughout the twentieth century the Bells of Iowa State have sounded across the campus. The first bells were placed in the Campanile in 1899. Since then they have become an outstanding tradition of the University as well as a unique symbol remembered pleasantly by alumni and campus visitors. This is exactly as their donor, Edgar W. Stanton, wished. Stanton graduated with the first class at Iowa State in 1872. He spent 50 years on campus as a student and faculty member, becoming the Head of the Department of Mathematics, secretary to the Board of Trustees, dean of the junior college, vice-president, and on four different occasions, acting President. His first wife was Margaret MacDonald Stanton, first dean of women. When she died, July 25, 1895, she had been closely identified with the University for almost twenty-five years. Stanton wanted to establish a monument so all students and friends of Iowa State would remember her. He finally decided to purchase and have installed a chime of 10 bells in a detached tower on central campus. President William M. Beardshear helped him choose the site, and the state legislature appropriated $7, 500 for the construction of the tower and its clock.
According to H. Summerfield Day's The Iowa State University Campus and Its Buildings, 1859-1979 (1980), construction began in 1897 and was completed in 1898. The contractor was J.F. Atkinson and the architect was George E. Hallett. The final cost was $6,510.20 and the Campanile stood 110 feet tall and its main shaft was 16 feet square. Stanton died September 12, 1920, and his will provided that after certain bequests were taken out, the residue of his estate should be turned over to the University for furnishing a memorial to him. His second wife, Julia Wentch Stanton, and the children, decided to request that the University install 26 additional bells, thus forming a musical instrument which became known as the Edgar W. and Margaret MacDonald Stanton Memorial Carillon. In 1954, the trustees of the Stanton Memorial Trust joined with others to create the Stanton Memorial Carillon Foundation to further the advancement of the carillon at Iowa State. One of the first acts of the Foundation was to purchase 13 additional treble bells, along with a new keyboard large enough to accommodate a 53-bell carillon. They were installed in 1956, brining the total number of bells in 49. In 1967, a fiftieth bell was added.

Creator

Iowa State University

Source

4-8-I.Campanile.230-5-5

Publisher

Iowa State University Library Special Collections; http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/index.html

Date

1947
2005-07-07

Rights

U.S. and international copyright laws protect this digital image. Commercial use or distribution of the image is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder. For permission to use the digital image, please contact Iowa State University Library, Special Collections archives@iastate.edu For reproductions see: http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/services/photfees.html

Relation

University Photographs; http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/collections/images.html

Format

Photograph
7.6 x 10.5 cm

Type

Still Image (grayscale)
Image

Identifier

4-8-I.Campanile.230-5-5
https://digitalcollections.lib.iastate.edu/