Ringing "Glad Tidings": A History of the University Bell

On October 5, 1892, when the doors of the State Normal and Industrial School officially opened for instruction, the women enrolled were called to classes by the chiming of the University Bell. Originally, the bell stood near the location of the current Alumni House. It was used wake students in the morning, call them to breakfast and other meals, and alert them to the start of the school day. Ezekiel Robinson was typically the person tasked with ringing the bell during the earliest years of the school.

Ezekiel Robinson with the campus bell, 1910

Standing near the site of the current Alumni House, the bell also was used in cases of emergencies or special announcements. In 1897 when the State Normal students learned that the school was receiving increased appropriations from the state legislature (twice the amount received the previous year!), "a hundred or more young ladies started for the Normal bell to ring out the glad tidings." Students kept the bell ringing for nearly half an hour.

When the Brick Dormitory caught fire in the middle of the night in 1904, the bell rang to wake sleeping students and get them to safety. Josephine Scott, a student from Alamance County, ran to ring the bell and hasten the evacuation. After ringing the bell a few times, the rope used broke. According to a classmates' recollection, Scott then climbed the wooden frame of the bell tower to ring the bell with her hands until all of the students had safely left the building.

After the destruction of Brick Dormitory and the construction of Spencer, the bell was moved to a site closer to the new residence hall (across College Avenue from where Jackson Library sits today). When electric bells were installed in the campus buildings, the use of the bell on a daily basis was discontinued. But students still used it as a meeting place for groups and celebrations. On student government election nights, the winning group would meet at the bell to begin their festivities. 

Then, on a Saturday night in January 1938, the bell was taken down and tucked away in a storage room on campus. There it sat until members of the Class of 1923 decided it needed a more prominent location and a more prominent role in ongoing campus life and traditions.

The bell hanging in Students Anniversary Plaza, 1968

When the Class of 1923 held their 30th reunion in 1953, the class president implored that something be done to preserve "a certain bell dear to the memory of the alumnae." Small paper bells were distributed at the class luncheon, and alumnae were encouraged to contribute funds to the "bell fund." Shortly after that reunion, the bell was removed from storage and placed in a more prominent location at the college entrance from Spring Garden Street.  One small change was made to the bell, however. The clapper was removed because administrators "felt that placing the bell intact, so close to Curry School [the teaching school on campus], might be too great a temptation to the Curry children."

In 1967, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the university's opening, the student body of 1967 donated $15,000 to build Students’ Anniversary Plaza at the corner of Spring Garden and College Avenue (the site of founding president Charles Duncan McIver's home). A brick "modernistic arch" was designed by Charles Bell, superintendent of ground at UNCG. The bell was bronzed and mounted under the arch in 1968.

The bell remained in that location until 1987 when it was removed for restoration. It is currently stored in the Alumni House, but the bell is brought out for every commencement. At the end of the ceremony, the bell is rung to honor the new graduates. As it first rang to welcome students to the new State Normal and Industrial School, it now rings to honor our newest alumni.

The 1932 Carnegie Library Fire

Carnegie Library after the fire

On October 2, 1905, the library at the State Normal and Industrial College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) moved from a small room in the Main building (now the Foust building) to the newly constructed Carnegie Library (now the Forney Building). Recognizing the ever growing need for more library space, College President Charles D. McIver contacted Andrew Carnegie, a well-known philanthropist and strong supporter of libraries, and asked for the funds needed to construct the building. Remarkably, he agreed to fund the entire project, which totaled $18,868 at its completion. This was surprising given that he has just supported the construction of two other libraries in Greensboro.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck the library on September 15, 1932, when it mysteriously caught fire. According to The Carolinian, the student run newspaper, the “fire broke out shortly before 3 o’clock and was reported by a workman who saw the flames as he was going to work.” Others noticed the fire as well, including an airmail pilot who had just left the airport when he saw the flames. In an effort to alert those on the ground, he flew his plane extremely low over the building, waking up many of the girls in the dormitories. A crowd of students and faculty members soon gathered around the building to watch as fireman frantically tried to extinguish the fire. The most serious damage occurred in the reading and library science room while the reserve room and most of the stacks were spared significant damage since they were protected by a vault-like structure that was closed before the flames could spread.

The final damage to the building and its contents, including the books, was estimated to be approximately $98,000 (or $1.6 million today). Afterwards, Mr. Charles H. Stone, the college Librarian, began the arduous task of rebuilding the damaged library collection. Books and materials that could be salvaged and saved were transported to the Students’ Building while materials in the stacks were left in place, but were not accessible to students. 

The Carnegie Library was rebuilt and remained the primary library on campus until June 1950 when the books were moved to a new, larger library building across the street, later named in honor of former Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson.

The Brick Dormitory Fire of 1904

The State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) faced a number of challenges in its infancy. An 1899-1900 typhoid fever outbreak killed 13 students and one staff member. Then, in the early hours of January 20, 1904, a massive fire consumed Brick Dormitory, one of the original campus buildings and the largest dormitory on campus.

Student body at Brick Dormitory, 1896

Brick Dormitory, designed by Epps & Hackett of Greensboro, North Carolina, opened in 1892. Also known as the "matron’s hall" or the "living building," the three-story structure was built in a number of stages. By 1895 a kitchen, infirmary room, and dining hall that held 150 students had been added. A final wing, including more dormitory rooms and larger dining and kitchen facilities, was added at the rear of the building by late 1903.

Around 3:45 am on that cold winter night, Eugene Osborne, the campus night watchman, discovered a fire and began evacuating  residents. Faculty resident Minnie Jamison and students quickly alerted all of the 300+ residents. One student resident, Josephine Scott, ran outside in her nightgown to ring the college bell and sound the alarm until everyone was safely out of the building. Thanks to these alerts as well as previous fire drills, no lives were lost and no one was seriously injured in the evacuation. The dormitory building, however, was completely consumed, along with a nearby power plant and laundry building.

Campus in 1897.
Main Building (now Foust) on left; Brick Dormitory on right

The residents of Brick Dormitory, while safe, lost almost all of their possessions. As Emma McKinney recounted, the residents were awakened with shouts of "Fire! ... Don't take time to get anything. Hurry." She and her roommate, like most others, grabbed their robes and bedrooms slippers and rushed out of the building as quickly as possible.

Luckily, other students, faculty, townspeople, and residents from around the state were willing to assist the displaced students with offers of money, clothing, and spare rooms. McKinney recounted "the nice breakfast the different hotels sent out to the College" due to the fact that the kitchen was destroyed. Eventually a temporary shed was set up on the campus tennis courts (near the current Mary Foust Dormitory) to serve as a kitchen and dining hall. The Students' Building, which was in use but not yet completed, was used as an emergency dormitory space, with sheets hung to form impromptu rooms.

Brick Dormitory remains, 1904

President McIver, who was returning to campus from a trip to New York at the time of the fire, called a student assembly the following morning. There he had the students join in singing the hymn "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow." He also expressed his sympathies for those who lost their possessions, along with his gratitude that no lives were lost. According to McKinney, "his talk was one never to be forgotten."

The total loss due to the fire was evaluated at $64,458, and classes were suspended for three weeks. Within three days of the fire, however, the state legislature promised $80,000 for the construction of a new dormitory and McIver and the faculty began planning its features. The result of this was a two-story, very long building (492 feet) divided into fireproof sections. The new building would also house a dining hall. Construction began in April 1904 along College Avenue, and, in October, the dormitory -- named for Cornelia Phillips Spencer -- was completed.