Bell Tower

Bell Tower. . , The Bell Tower is indicated by a stone platform attached to the wall connecting Houston and Tryon Halls. In 1882, an announcement noted: "Dr. Crane has moved the bell from the place where it has stood so long to a position near Houston Hall so that he will not have to walk so far when he taps the bell for class changes." He moved the bell from a location near the original president's residence in the Octagon Building in the south area of the male campus. President Crane had recently moved into his new home located just north of the campus boundary. The Connective Wall runs east to west for 22 feet and lies 24 inches (2 feet) thick. This is sufficiently thick to support two stories of cut masonry., Tucked in a northeast corner formed by the east wall of Houston Hall and the Connective Wall is a square Stone Platform. These contiguous flat-lying stones form a platform raised almost a foot above the natural level of the surface. This Stone Platform served as the floor for the bell tower, located at the summit of Windmill Hill. From this location, the bell could be heard all over Independence., Captions , View of Bell Tower with the ruins of Graves Hall in foreground , Connective Wall and Adjacent Stone Platform , Example of Bell Tower from the Independence Baptist Church , , Sidebar, Prologue , Baylor University, upon a lofty eminence.. , From the University buildings, we have a fine view of all the surrounding country within a circuit of twenty miles. , To the south lies Brenham-we readily discern its streets and buildings - twelve miles distant. , Looking to the southeast, we behold Chappell Hill, twelve miles off. The upper story of Soule University, the Methodist Church and many well known residences may be distinctly seen. , We next direct our gaze to the north, far across hills and valleys, and perceive a distant object looming up to view. It is the A. and M. College, twenty-two miles distant. , One may sit with raptures of delight, for hours, gazing upon lovely farms and farm-houses, which seem like so many covered wagons in the far distance. , How heavenly it seems at eve, when the sun is quietly sinking down in the West, and the gentle South breezes play about us, to be left to our own reflections. , No wonder the students drink in so much inspiration, and what an admirably adapted place for schools of learning-colleges. , It is nothing marvelous, then, that the students so love Independence, its society, and the grand old institutions of learning., By "Viator" (pseudonym for a Baylor University student) , The Baylors Aegis, May 1883:1 , Edited in this manner by the author James S. Belew