FIRST Bell from Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute - Denton, TX
N 33° 12.653 W 097° 08.814
14S E 672708 N 3676195
The original bell from Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute can be found inside the University Union at the college's modern-day incarnation, the University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Denton, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12YQ9
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/08/2020
Views: 1
The bell is mounted on a tiled concrete base at the top of the stairs leading up to the second level. Its yoke shows signs of damage and subsequent repairs, and identifies it as a #40 created by the Grand Rapids School Furniture Company. That company, out of Grand Rapids, MI, was founded in 1886, and it sold this bell to the college eight years before being absorbed along with eighteen other such manufacturers into a new company, the American School Furniture Company in New York, NY. As it is on the ground, one can interact with it in any responsible way, although it will require some effort to make it ring, which will certainly draw attention.
Just a little north of the University Union is the Power Plant building, and a 2012 University of North Texas historical marker there tells a bit about this bell and how it's related to that building:
Constructed in 1915, the Power Plant -- which also was known as the Heating Plant -- is the second-oldest building still standing. With a smoke stack and incinerator outside, it housed the coal-burning boilers that furnished heat to the buildings on the original campus. In 1935, the college received appropriations to build steam tunnels to some of the buildings, and chillers were added in 1958. The boilers today run on natural gas, serving many of the buildings on the north side of campus. The Power Plant also provided training space for the manual arts program, including a wood shop. The original bell that President Joshua C. Chilton brought to campus in 1891 was moved to the roof of the newly built plant. The bell signaled the change of classes and sent students to their boarding houses for a nightly study period. It also marked the arrival of the mail and furnished a morning wake-up alarm. On November 11, 1918, the ball rang all day and night to celebrate the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. The bell also was rung to celebrate athletic victories and in demonstrations of school spirit. Its clapper often went missing around April Fools' Day, and eventually one was welded into place. By the 1950s, the rope to the boiler room was removed so that ringing the bell would require the extra effort of mounting the building. "This deters somewhat its belligerent and promiscuous use," a 1951 facilities report notes. The bell was removed from the roof in 1962 to serve as the original Spirit Bell at football games and is now retired in the University Union.
-----
UNT has a "memories" type of video (recalling Fouts Field, now demolished) on their Twitter feed, and it looks to be this bell that makes an appearance at 0:54.