The Century Tower is a 157-foot-tall bell tower containing a carillon in the center of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida, United States. Begun in 1953 by the Auchter Company to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of UF's parent institution, the East Florida Seminary in Ocala, it also serves as a memorial for students …
The Century Tower is a 157-foot-tall bell tower containing a carillon in the center of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida, United States. Begun in 1953 by the Auchter Company to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of UF's parent institution, the East Florida Seminary in Ocala, it also serves as a memorial for students and alumni who perished in both World War I and World War II. This fulfilled the original campus design of the university's first architect, William Augustus Edwards, which called for a Gothic bell tower as a focal point for the entire campus. The design carries forward the spirit and proportions of Canterbury Cathedral's central Bell Harry Tower, a Norman structure rebuilt in the 14th century to a design by John Wastell. However, at the time of the Century Tower's completion in 1956 there was no money to buy bells for a carillon. An electronic bell system given by J.E. Davis and A.D. Davis, two of the Davis Brothers who controlled Winn-Dixie, was used until it finally broke down in 1975. In 1976, $200,000 from accumulated student fees was used to buy the initial set of 49 bells. A Dutch bellfoundry, Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry designed, fabricated and installed the full carillon. In May 1979 the carillon was dedicated in two recitals by Milford Myhre, carillonneur of the Bok Singing Tower, Lake Wales FL, who had served as consultant for the instrument.
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