Hulley Tower - Stetson University Campus Historic District - DeLand, FL
N 29° 02.170 W 081° 18.197
17R E 470470 N 3212030
Hulley Tower, built at Stetson University by Dr. Lincoln Hulley, has a first floor mausoleum that is the final resting place of Dr. Hulley and his wife Eloise. The upper portion of the tower was torn down due to structural integrity issues.
Waymark Code: WMBKGA
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 05/30/2011
Views: 4
"Completed in 1934, the 116-foot Hulley Tower was built by Stetson's second president, Dr. Lincoln Hulley, to house the Eloise Chimes, which were made by the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore and installed in Elizabeth Hall's cupola in 1915. They consist of four large and seven smaller rough cast bells, ranging from 575 to 3,000 lbs. As Woodland Boulevard traffic increased they were found to vibrate too much for Elizabeth Hall and were moved to Hulley Tower.
Hulley died before the tower was finished, and was interred in a mausoleum on the first floor of the tower. His wife, Eloise Mayham Hulley, for whom the chimes were named, lived another 25 years, and was interred beside him when she died in 1959. The mausoleum is on the first floor of the structure, within the stone base; it will remain intact, a perpetual memorial to the Hulleys, regardless of the fate of the tower."
-- Source
"Completed in 1934, the 116-foot Hulley Tower originally contained an 11-bell carillion, and a mausoleum for Stetson's second president, Lincoln Hulley, and his wife Eloise. Hulley served as president for 30 years (1904-34), and he and his family built the tower as a gift to the university. He died before it was finished.
The Eloise Chimes were first housed in Elizabeth Hall's cupola, but were moved when Hulley Tower was built. They consisted of 11 rough cast bells, four large and seven smaller ones, ranging from 3,000 to 575 pounds, hung from an all-steel structure 106 feet high. They were played with wooden handles, each attached to a bell by a system of pulleys, wires and leather straps. The playing platform was located on the tower's second level, open to the air and reached by a narrow stone staircase. A series of iron ladders lead to the bells, that was also open to the air.
Stetson's bells have rung over the campus and the city once or twice a day since 1915, depending on the availability of bellringers. They are a DeLand and Stetson University tradition. In 1994, the Kaiser family of DeLand endowed a scholarship to pay the bellringer. The tower was renovated in 1986.
During the course of the next two decades, however, the infrastructure of the tower and bells was compromised by weather damage. Citing safety reasons, university officials in 2005 made the decision to dismantle the upper part of the structure, leaving the mausolem intact. A plan to rebuild the tower and carillon is underway."
-- Source