In 1935, Mr. William Duff and Mrs. Mary Duff presented the college with a twelve bell chime cast by the Meneely Bell Foundry, given in honor of their two daughters, Charlotte and Letitia Duff. Originally crafted for the Delaware-Dupont Estate Gardens, the bells were never installed there due to the Depression. The Duffs purchased the bells and presented them to the College on Easter Sunday, 1935. They were installed shortly after on May 1, 1935 and played for the first time by Mr. Andrew E. Meneely, President of the Meneely Company, who installed them.
In 1978, Katherine Stewart Armington '16, who at the time was a Board of Trustee member, presented an additional twenty-three bells to the college. At this point, the instrument was classified as a "carillon," or a musical instrument composed of at least twenty-three bells, tuned chromatically and played from a keyboard that allows for expression based on variation of touch. These bells were cast by the Petit and Fritsen Bell Foundry. The most recent and final expansion of the instrument was in the year 2006, when seven bells were donated by the class of 1956. With the final expansion, the current instrument has forty-two bells.
The pitch of the heaviest bell is an A sharp, with the transposition of the instrument up ten semitones. The console of the instrument is housed halfway up the tower on the roof of Old Main, accessed by a tall, spiral staircase. The bells sit directly above the enclosed carillon cabin. The bells ring the "Westminster Chime" every fifteen minutes throughout the day. Westminster College is fortunate to have a practice clavier in the School of Music with tuned metal bars. There are less than 200 instruments in North America. Texas is the state that has the most carillons in the United States of America; Pennsylvania is the state with the second highest number of carillons. Only two college campuses in Pennsylvania have Carillons: Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA and the Penn State Behrend Campus in Erie, PA.
The tower at Westminster College is approximately one hundred and sixty feet tall, with a total of sixty-two steps up to the carillon cabin. The total weight of the instrument is five thousand seven hundred and ninety one pounds. Most carillons weigh anywhere between five and seventeen tons. Our largest bell is thirty-six inches in diameter and weighs approximately one thousand pounds. It sounds a concert A sharp, but is shown on the clavier as a C. Our smallest bell is about twenty-one pounds and is only about seven inches in diameter.
In 1978, Katherine Stewart Armington '16, who at the time was a Board of Trustee member, presented an additional twenty-three bells to the college. At this point, the instrument was classified as a "carillon," or a musical instrument composed of at least twenty-three bells, tuned chromatically and played from a keyboard that allows for expression based on variation of touch. These bells were cast by the Petit and Fritsen Bell Foundry. The most recent and final expansion of the instrument was in the year 2006, when seven bells were donated by the class of 1956. With the final expansion, the current instrument has forty-two bells.
The pitch of the heaviest bell is an A sharp, with the transposition of the instrument up ten semitones. The console of the instrument is housed halfway up the tower on the roof of Old Main, accessed by a tall, spiral staircase. The bells sit directly above the enclosed carillon cabin. The bells ring the "Westminster Chime" every fifteen minutes throughout the day. Westminster College is fortunate to have a practice clavier in the School of Music with tuned metal bars. There are less than 200 instruments in North America. Texas is the state that has the most carillons in the United States of America; Pennsylvania is the state with the second highest number of carillons. Only two college campuses in Pennsylvania have Carillons: Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA and the Penn State Behrend Campus in Erie, PA.
The tower at Westminster College is approximately one hundred and sixty feet tall, with a total of sixty-two steps up to the carillon cabin. The total weight of the instrument is five thousand seven hundred and ninety one pounds. Most carillons weigh anywhere between five and seventeen tons. Our largest bell is thirty-six inches in diameter and weighs approximately one thousand pounds. It sounds a concert A sharp, but is shown on the clavier as a C. Our smallest bell is about twenty-one pounds and is only about seven inches in diameter.