Purdue Bell Tower, Bell tower at Purdue University, Indiana, United States.
The Purdue Bell Tower is a bell tower standing at the center of the Purdue University campus in Indiana, with four clock faces visible on its exterior. It houses a set of historic bells operated by a computerized carillon system, and the structure also carries emergency alert speakers for campus-wide broadcasts.
The tower was funded by the Class of 1948 and dedicated on October 14, 1995, during a Homecoming weekend ceremony. The bells it carries date back to 1895 and originally hung in Heavilon Hall, an earlier building on the campus grounds.
The tower plays university songs and the alma mater every day, and the sound carries across a large part of the campus. For many students, hearing the bells is a daily habit that marks the passage of time between classes.
The tower is visible from most parts of the campus and works well as a reference point when moving around. Since the bells ring at set times during the day, planning a walk through the central campus around those moments gives a fuller sense of the place.
Buried beneath the tower is a time capsule holding 70 items related to campus life, set to be opened in 2095. Anyone walking past the base of the tower today is standing directly above an archive meant for people who have not yet been born.
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