South Western Bell's Third Site
This seemingly sedentary bell was once in vibrant use on our campus
The South Western Bell, now located outside of the McCombs Campus Center, has moved quite a bit in its lifetime. After being stored at the First Methodist Church and then on campus from 1916-1926, the bell was yet again put into use- this time on the site of the New Campus, specifically within the women’s domain (where this Placing Memory pin is located).
According to stories told in The Megaphone, Laura Kuykendall was the primary reason that this bell was reinstated into use. After the reconstruction of the Women’s Building finished in 1926, Kuykendall took the bell out of storage and placed it on top of the building’s roof, above the elevator shaft. After creating and hosting a pageant revolving around the South Western Bell the next spring (which you can read more about in a separate pin of Placing Memory), the bell was officially surmounted in the tower of the Women’s Building. It was used for about seventy years here before repeating its cycle, becoming displaced and inactive yet again.
