2026-09-29T23:26:31+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/ Rattlers Remember https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org 2019-12-07T17:21:38+00:00 2019-12-16T15:53:32+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/19 Antonio Coffee For many, the bell tower symbolizes graduation. It is engraved on the ring that students may buy to show they are an alumnus of St. Mary’s. Anyone that knows Saint Mary’s will recognize it instantly, for those unfamiliar with the campus, it is the first thing they will notice. It is a center of social and spiritual life for many students on campus. Surprisingly, however, the Bell Tower is a fairly recent addition to Saint Mary’s. On February 9, 2007 Saint Mary’s held a dedication ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of the Bell Tower. Many people attended the ceremony,  including Charles T. and Melissa Barrett, who gave the initial donation of $500,000 that made the creation of the Bell Tower possible. This is around half of the total cost of the tower.. Charles graduated from Saint Mary’s in 1962 before he became a member of the Board of Trustees. He helped create the Bell Tower to serve as a memorial for his mother and his son who had recently passed away. The tower is dedicated to the memory of both of them. Charles and Melissa hoped the Bell Tower would become an iconic gathering point for students on campus. Saint Mary’s emphasizes community and the campus was missing this kind of central gathering place. Every Wednesday at three p.m. students gather to say the Marianist three o’clock prayer around the Bell Tower. Throughout the year, there are also events where students will gather to eat food and share in community with each other. Every year the university decorates it for the tree lighting ceremony, sororities use it during bid day, and many students take pictures with it for social media. Saint Mary’s started talking about the creation of a Bell Tower in the 1960s, and the University has looked for a way to create one since then. This Bell Tower is unique in that it does not have physical bell, but instead it has an electronic chime installed that rings at noon, 3PM, and 6PM. It rings at these times as a call to daily mass and three o’clock prayer. The Bell Tower still has a bell installed, but it is just for looks.  The construction of the Bell Tower took around a year to complete and had its bumps in the road. At one point the construction workers accidently hit a power line and created an outage on half of campus. The construction also upset some students as it made it harder for them to get to class. Despite these issues during construction, the Bell Tower is now an iconic feature of Saint Mary’s. The Bell Tower stands proud and tall watching over campus and remaining a symbol for those who come here. For more (including 3 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article. 2019-04-30T18:46:17+00:00 2019-05-08T01:16:38+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/5 Kacey Diaz When you drive past St. Mary’s University or walk the campus, what stands out most to you? St. Louis Hall? Chaminade Tower? The water fountain in front of the school? Whatever it may be, nothing stands out more, literally, than the Barrett Memorial Bell Tower. The late Susana Barrett envisioned a striking centerpiece for the campus that would bring together the St. Mary's community. With the help of her son Charles T. Barrett Jr., a St. Mary's alumnus, this vision became a reality. It was primarily through his efforts that this project was funded and in addition, met with President Cotrell and Brother Jim Jakely, to form a committee which traveled around the country examining other school's bell towers in order to get inspiration for our own. The 100-foot memorial tower was dedicated to the Barrett family at a ceremony on February 2, 2007. At this ceremony, the former President of St. Mary's, Charles L. Cotrell, Ph.D., recognized the Bell Tower as the "centerpiece of the campus landscape" and an area that "[transformed] this space into both the geographical and spiritual center of the St. Mary's campus." Although the Bell Tower is relatively new to campus, it can be hard for those who attended or worked at St. Mary's before the construction of the tower to remember what the school looked like before it was built. LaRae Sleeter, attended St. Mary's from 1988-1993, remembers that part of this area was an accessible parking area, and the other part was a large open field where intramural sports took place. One of her first memories of this area was a story she heard of the naming of the mascot, the Rattlers. According to Sleeter, the area where the Bell Tower is now used to be the football field that would have to be cleared of rattlesnakes before games were played. Even though it may be difficult to imagine what the Bell Tower area used to look like, it’s hard to negate the fact that the Bell Tower is an aesthetically pleasing asset to the school. The Bell Tower captivates everyone's attention at St. Mary’s. Before there was a Bell Tower, when the school song, "The Bells of St. Mary's," was sung, faculty, staff, and students would point in any direction while singing this song. After the tower was built, it's now tradition to point towards the Bell Tower when singing the song. The original placement for the Bell Tower was going to be in Alkek Plaza, but this idea was quickly dismissed by architects, engineers, and St. Mary's community members who were working on the project. They felt the placement of the Bell Tower in its current location was more appropriate because of its centrality to campus. Today, the Bell Tower serves as a central meeting area for groups on campus including the Marianist three o'clock prayer. One of the most shocking facts about the Bell Tower is that the bells inside of the tower aren't real bells, they are made of styrofoam. All the aspects, including the design, the engravings, and the bells, that make up the Bell Tower are what make it unique and special to this campus. The Barrett Memorial Bell Tower of St. Mary’s University will forever, as former President Cotrell describes, “symbolize the strength, heritage and traditions of excellence at St. Mary’s.” For more (including 3 images and 1 sound clip), view the original article.