Shafer Tower
Encyclopedia
Shafer Tower is a 150 feet (45.7 m) free-standing bell tower
, or campanile
with a carillon
and chiming clock located in the middle of the campus of Ball State University
.
Despite being dedicated fairly recently in 2002, Shafer Tower has become an unofficial landmark of Ball State University. It is located in the median
of McKinley Avenue on University Green, the northern quadrangle of campus.
A narrow staircase in the tower leads to a control room of the carillon, which has 48 custom-made bells. From here a musician can play the instrument on special occasions or for concerts. The bells are programmed by computer to chime every 15 minutes between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Due to a construction defect in the type of cement used to build the tower, most of Shafer Tower literally had to be built twice. The architect of record was Edmund Hafer Associates of Evansville, Indiana
.
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
, or campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
with a carillon
Carillon
A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
and chiming clock located in the middle of the campus of Ball State University
Ball State University
Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
.
Despite being dedicated fairly recently in 2002, Shafer Tower has become an unofficial landmark of Ball State University. It is located in the median
Median
In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to...
of McKinley Avenue on University Green, the northern quadrangle of campus.
A narrow staircase in the tower leads to a control room of the carillon, which has 48 custom-made bells. From here a musician can play the instrument on special occasions or for concerts. The bells are programmed by computer to chime every 15 minutes between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Due to a construction defect in the type of cement used to build the tower, most of Shafer Tower literally had to be built twice. The architect of record was Edmund Hafer Associates of Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
.
External links
- Official web site
- Ball State Campus Photographs from Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository
- Ball State University Archives Features photographs, blueprints, and other materials related to the construction of the Ball State campus