This September 1968 photograph shows the Students Anniversary Plaza on the corner of College Avenue and Spring Garden Street which housed the University Bell. In 1967, on the occasion of the University’s 75th anniversary, the student body voted to build a more elaborate brick setting on the former site of Charles Duncan McIver’s home, named Students Anniversary Plaza. The plaza was renovated in 2005 to incorporate the Vacc Bell Tower, named after Nicholas A. Vacc, Chair of the University Counseling Program (1986-1996.) Originally the bell was known as “Farm Bell” and the “Prep” and it regulated every aspect of student life in the early years. It was first located near Main Building and Brick Dormitory. On January 21, 1904, Josephine Scott Hudson climbed the bell’s wooden frame and rang it to evacuate students from the Brick Dormitory during the fire. From 1922 until 1938, it was located in an area between South Spencer and Woman’s dormitories. In 1938, when electric bells were installed in all of the buildings, it was taken down and placed in storage. In 1953, in honor of their 30th Reunion, the Class of 1923 took steps to have the bell preserved and soon after it was again set up, without its clapper, at President McIver’s home site at Spring Garden Street and College Avenue. To commemorate the University’s 75th Anniversary, the student body of 1967 appropriated $15,000 to build Anniversary Plaza on the same site. The bell hung at that site from a brick arch designed by Charles Bell, Superintendent of Grounds from 1968 until 1987. The bell is now in storage and is brought out and rung on special occasions.
Type
Image
Original format
Photographs
Original publisher
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Contributing institution
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID
ua103.3.031
Digital publisher
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
