Every hour, on the hour, it sounds. One day, it may even ring. The Memorial Bell Tower may be the University’s most recognizable visual feature and serves as the landmark of the official seal.It’s been a place to celebrate, protest and even mourn.Just in the last year, students used the Bell Tower to welcome President Barack Obama to the White House, protest the conflict between Israel and Gaza and mourn the death of women’s basketball coach Kay Yow.But while the Bell Tower serves as the symbol of the University and a memorial to fallen World War I veterans, its name raises a question for Matt Robbins, a graduate student in architecture.”Why doesn’t the Bell Tower have bells in it?” Robbins asked himself.Robbins’ 2004 discovery that the Bell Tower did not have a single bell in it started a journey which, as of 2009, has him poised to begin a fundraising project to get bells in the tower bearing that name.”When I look at the tower, I see an unfinished canvas. It is a suitable memorial, but it could be much better than it is,” Robbins said. “It was supposed to be a 54-bell carillon memorial. The bells would serve as a constant reminder to the sacrifice of those who are memorialized by the tower.”Robbins’ desire to get bells in the Bell Tower coincides with the University-planned renovation of the tower to improve the structure’s look and halt the deterioration that has occurred since its completion.Though the two projects are undeniably connected, Robbins said, the money for bells will come completely from donations while the money for the University renovation project is from the state.”The bell project would be done completely and utterly by donations from students and alumni. No fees or taxpayer money would be put toward it,” Robbins said. “It’s only fitting that the alumni, students and community contribute to make this special. If someone is forced to give money, it doesn’t make sense.”Robbins said he thinks it is crucial for students and alumni to latch onto a project like this because it can teach people about the history of the tower and the history of the people responsible for its original construction.An untold historyWhile some people see the Bell Tower as the University’s crown jewel and think of the tower fondly, few know its true history.Few know the idea for the tower came from a two paragraph letter sent to alumni secretary E.B. Owen from Vance Sykes (Class of 1907). Few know the original stone used in construction is from right here in North Carolina — Mt. Airy, to be exact. Few know construction on the tower had to be halted during the Great Depression and finished a decade later in 1937. Few would know, unless they really look, that the Bell Tower contains no real bells, but speakers which are controlled from Holladay Hall.Once Robbins discovered the tower had no bells, he said he had to find out why.Since then, Robbins has dedicated much of his time and hours of effort to discovering the true story of the tower. That search has changed the way Robbins looks at the tower. Not as the crowning jewel of N.C. State, but as an unfinished memorial that deserves to be completed to fulfill its original 1920 design.”When I look at things on campus, especially the tower, I begin to understand a lot of what our forefathers had been thinking,” he said. “It’s important to look back and get in touch with the people who pave the way for the things that are happening now.”Another largely unknown aspect of the history of both the tower and campus as a whole, which Robbins discovered during his research, is the long-running connection between the University and Freemasons.Freemasons are members of a fraternal society dedicated to the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of a supreme being. Dozens of the founding members of the University were Freemasons, including Sykes, the alumnus who initially suggested the construction of a memorial to those who died in World War I.”Since freemasonry is primarily a fraternity organization, it already has that idea of brotherhood,” Robbins said. “The community service they do speaks to the family aspect of it.”Robbins said it was that longstanding connection between Freemasons and campus that led him to ask the Masons for money April 1 to get his fundraising process started. The group gave Robbins about $2,000 to print T-shirts, which Robbins said will get the project off the ground and running.Sam Frink, a sophomore in engineering and Freemason, said the historical significance of the project is crucial to understand the true meaning of the tower. “The Masons are the ones who began the project and got the funds for it,” he said. “It brings closure to it since it was never finished. It’s a way to finally complete and bring closure to the entire project as a whole.”Robbins said he hopes to see the Bell Tower have the 54 bell carillon that its designers intended in 1920. Had the tower been finished, bells and all, it would have been the largest carillon in the world until 1930, Robbins said.”The tower was supposed to be something that no one had ever even thought about before. No bell foundry in the world felt comfortable casting 54 bells in concert to play with each other,” he said. “This was precedent setting. It’s amazing to see this concept of ‘let’s think big’ all the way back in 1920. It’s good to see that was there then.”A project on holdWhile Robbins has started the process of raising funds for the project, it is unclear when students will be able to hear bells ring the hour.Because of the economic crisis, Gov. Bev Perdue put a ban on new capital construction projects in the fall of 2008 to save money. “It all depends on how the economy is six months or a year from now when the executive order is lifted,” Robbins said. “Then we can begin construction on the renovation of the tower that had been on the schedule many years earlier.”Only then will the first six bells be able to fit into the tower and become operational. Robbins said the six initial bells, the biggest of the 54, and the infrastructure to make the bells operational will cost about $300,000. The full project would cost more, but Robbins said it isn’t clear at this point how much. Robbins said the current state of the economy may actually help in the fundraising process.”Because the economy is in the state that it is, people understand what other people are going through,” he said. “It allows people to relate and connect back to the Great Depression and what the tower went through before.”Robbins said the initial response to the project has been positive from students, alumni and the University.”People from all over the United States have contacted us about giving,” he said. “It speaks to the connection we all have as students, the spirit of N.C. State. It’s not the fact that we have an excellent curriculum, but we as students have the ability to change lives.”Ches McDowell, a sophomore in political science, said the tower deserves to be finished.  “The Bell Tower is the centerpiece of our University. Carolina has the Old Well and Duke has their Chapel,” he said. “It not being complete is almost like our University isn’t complete. With the project being privately funded I’m a big supporter.”The key now, Robbins said, will be getting students and alumni to buy into the project and donate money.”The nature of the tower is that the sweat, blood and hard work of our forefathers is encased in the tower and it’s only fitting that the alumni, students and community contribute in the same way to make this special,” Robbins said.

 Check out a computer generated model of what the Bell Tower would have looked like had the original plans been completed in 1922.

For more information about this project, visit ncsubells.com