Do you remember the sound of the chapel chimes playing every hour as you went to class? For some, the chapel chimes are synonymous with Wesleyan. They are perhaps the oldest part of our campus. Unfortunately, the chimes have broken.
“The chimes were a cue for campus,” said Brett Miller, College Archivist, Records Manager, Music Librarian, and Wesleyan alum. “Even if you weren’t aware of what time it was, you could get your bearings if you heard the Alma Mater at noon or the songs that played at 6 P.M. every day.”
According to Angela Gay Kinkead, Dean of the Chapel, the chimes have been a part of Wesleyan’s history longer than any of the buildings still in use today. The Shannon Bells were originally purchased from a donation by the Shannon and Phillips families. In the early 1900s, the bell was placed in the Seminary building, which is now the site of the Admissions Building. When the Seminary building caught fire, the bells were saved and put in the chapel only to be used two other times in history. The bells were tolled when President Stanley Martin died and on the first anniversary of the September 11 disaster.
The chimes we’ve all heard were part of an analog system that projected from the chapel steeple. According to Schulmerich Bells, the manufacturer, Wesleyan possess the last analog system in existence. Unfortunately, on the 2011 Commencement morning, the chimes broke and became irreplaceable.
“I miss the chimes terribly,” said Kinkead. “They made Wesleyan what it was. It really was a Wesleyan tradition.”
According to Kinkead, the estimate for a new chime system will cost roughly $30,000, and there are many other needs to be taken care of first. The chapel itself needs a new roof and new electric wiring.
“During your college career, the bells became a part of your daily life, whether you were aware of it or not,” said Miller. “People who come back to campus have a very strong association with them. Students who never experienced them missed out.”
Within a few years, after some needed updates to the chapel, the sound of the chimes should return to all students of Wesleyan.