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Moving Forward: The 1996 Campus Master Plan
The Julia Stacey Edwards Bell Tower has also become a central piece of the SVSU campus, frequently photographed and used in promotions and publications.
The desire to erect an iconic edifice that could become a university landmark dates to at least 1993 when the Board of Control formed a committee — chaired by Richard Thompson, dean of student affairs — to explore the feasibility of building a modest version of the types of towers that adorn some large campuses around the country. By April 1994, plans for a $150,000 bell tower had progressed to the point that the committee was weighing two potential locations for the structure: west of the Leaping Gazelle fountain in the quad and outside the west entrance of the yet-to-be-completed Curtiss Hall. Thompson reported that the committee had considered placing within the tower a large brass bell that could ring at certain times or on special occasions.26
Eventually the bell tower’s chosen location was near the east entrance to Groening Commons. That emerged as a preference after revisions to Curtiss Hall plans had moved that facility’s entrance back from the quad and restored a walkway leading to the hall. Construction crews completed the bell tower in summer 1998, and the university dedication took place Oct. 17, 1998. The money for the bell tower came from William J. Edwards, who as president and founder of the Lake Huron Broadcasting Corp. had chaired the very first SVSU fundraising campaign in the early 1960s. As a token of love for his wife and as a symbol of appreciation for the university he helped build, the tower was christened the Julia Stacey Edwards Bell Tower.
The university, eight months later, dedicated the adjacent amphitheatre built with donated funds from Melvin J. Zahnow to honor his wife Lillian.27 One of SVSU’s original incorporators, Frankenmuth resident Zahnow was chairman and trustee of Wickes Corp. and former chairman of the Harvey Randall Wickes Foundation.
Over time, Edwards Bell Tower became a campus meeting spot, a much-photographed edifice and an architectural symbol for SVSU, replacing the mundane, yet fondly remembered, water tower.28 The Bell Tower has been the site for both planned and impromptu memorials. For example, on the night of Sept. 11, 2001, a candlelight vigil was organized to honor the victims of the 9/11 tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. As soon as news of the terrorist attacks reached campus, administrators canceled classes for the rest of the day. Gilbertson approached Merry Jo Brandimore, vice president for student services, about organizing a gathering for students coping with the shocking events of that day. Brandimore and her staff organized a vigil at the bell tower with The Rev. Ron Cook volunteering to officiate at the service; approximately 500 students participated in the event.
Moving Forward: The 1996 Campus Master Plan
It was a particularly busy time for the university in 1994, with multiple building projects simultaneously progressing when Gilbertson appointed a committee of 11 faculty to study and recommend revisions to the 1978 campus Master Plan.
The document had long served as the guide for campus growth and the improvement of utilities, roads and the aesthetic beauty of the campus. Its successor was the 1996 Campus Master Plan, drafted with the guidance of Johnson, Johnson & Roy Inc., the Ann Arbor architectural consulting firm that had helped develop the 1978 plan. The updated outline’s
