MSU Carillon and Beaumont Tower

About the Instrument | History of Beaumont Tower & Carillon

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History at MSU

Since it was first built in 1928, the John W. Beaumont Memorial Tower has come to symbolize many things to different people. Located at the center of campus life, it has stood in mute relation to all the activities that have taken place in its shadow.

Beaumont Tower now stands at what was once the northeast corner of College Hall, not only the first instructional building to be erected on the MSU campus, but the first building in the United States to be devoted entirely to the teaching of scientific agriculture. College Hall was the birthplace of the entire land-grant system. Designed with state-of-the-art features, the new building was intended to facilitate a novel form of education previously unheard of in the sublimely detached colleges of the East -- "the application of modern science to the practical business of life." In this unique place, professors and students taught, studied, experimented, and even prayed, using the chemistry lecture room as a makeshift chapel.

Around the turn of the century, plans were made to renovate College Hall completely and preserve it as a Student Union. Workers soon discovered serious structural problems in the building and renovation was immediately halted and shorings were put in place to hold up weakened sections. However, it was an unfortunate night in 1918 when two walls of College Hall collapsed. The building that had been the birthplace of the land-grant ideal -- the heart and soul of Michigan Agricultural College -- was in ruins. Despite every attempt to save it, the grand old hall was destined to vanish forever from the college landscape.

One former student was determined that College Hall would not vanish from campus memory. John W. Beaumont, who had graduated in 1882, conceived the idea of a monument. He wanted more than a mere plaque or stone marker, but something that would stand as a fitting tribute to College Hall and to the courageous and dedicated teachers who had worked there to change so many lives. As The Agricultural College Record reported, Beaumont hoped that the proposed tower "might take such outward form as to fittingly supplement the charm and beauty of its peaceful setting, that its chime of mellow bells and the sculptured 'Sower' over its entrance might perhaps echo in some modest way something of the inspiration that came to him . . . through the lives and words of his teachers."

Beaumont Tower was designed to be a

MSU Carillonneur Ray McLellan in front of the MSU Carillon.

monument to teaching. Built in the Collegiate Gothic style, the tower not only contained the spiritual elements embodied in the chapel-like base and cathedral-like crown, but the crenelations and lancet windows of a fortress. This combination of spiritual and martial design elements can be attributed partially to a romantic idealism, to the battle against ignorance and social inequality, or to the "muscular Christianity" that then informed all aspects of professional life, including scholarship. In a more literal sense, however, Beaumont Tower really was meant to function as a defensive structure. With the collapse of College Hall in 1918 and the burning of two adjacent dormitories, Campus Circle, now devoid of buildings, became vunerable to new development. An artillery garage was built on the foundations of College Hall, and plans were made to cover Campus Circle with a circle of new buildings. The MSC alumni, wanting to preserve the area as a "sacred space," initiated a "Save the Circle" campaign, and John W. Beaumont presented his plan to replace the artillery garage with a memorial tower. This tower, occupying the highest end of the circle, would dominate the skyline of the north campus and discourage future building in the oldest and most historical sections of the college.

As time went on, decades of wear and tear on the carillon finally took their toll and in 1987 the instrument was no longer being played. Some years later, the university raised money through a variety of sources, including individual MSU alumni, in an effort to ensure that the restoration was done properly in order that it would last so that future generations could enjoy it. The silent bells of Beaumont Tower were brought back to life with a restoration project that was so extensive it involved specialists on two continents. The restoration took place in 1996, involving the carillon, clock, and Westminster chimes, as well as repair of the tower itself. The lower 27 bells were retained and the upper bells replaced by new bells specially designed to match the lower ones in respect to timbre and pitch.

"The improvements have made the Beaumont Carillon one of the highest-quality musical instruments of its kind in the world -- fitting for a world-class institution," says James Forger, director of the College of Music and one of the coordinators of the project. "With a restored manual play and practice keyboard, we hope there will be opportunities for members of our community to gain access and learn to play this magnificent instrument."