History
The idea of erecting a bell tower on the University of Alabama campus was initially suggested in 1919. It was envisioned as a war memorial for those who fought in World War I. Due to a lack of funding for its construction, the project never materialized.
In the late 1920s, university students were finally successful in collecting the necessary funding to construct a tower, although not as a war memorial. It was done in an effort to dedicate the structure to university president George Denny, after learning of a rumor that he was looking to leave the university and return to his native Virginia.
The tower was built by Skinner, Maxwell and Company at a final cost of $40,000. It was dedicated on May 27, 1929, with Governor Bibb Graves in attendance.
Read more about this topic: Denny Chimes
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)