“Acts of mischief and disorder” or For whom the school bell tolls

Bells have been part of Davidson College history from its beginning, guiding students throughout their days.  In the Miscellaneous Regulations section of the 1845-46 catalog, students are warned, “At the first ringing of the Bell in the morning, Students shall rise and prepare for business; and repair at the second ringing, to the Chapel to attend morning prayers.”

Students, being students, often resented the early morning peals and  constant presence of the bell. The Faculty in their August 9,  1849 report to the Trustees, sadly noted, “The Faculty have been
particularly grieved with the conduct of a few of the students, during part of the year. From some cause, which is not known to us, they  seem to be dissatisfied; and they secretly perpetuated acts of  mischief and disorder, greatly to the discredit of the College. ” One of these acts was the “taking and destroying in the College Bell.” Despite the assistance of the student literary societies who “took decided measures for the discovery of the individuals who took and destroyed the bell,” no conclusive evidence was found and another bell had to be procured at “a cost of about ninety-one dollars.”

The bell disappeared again a decade later. Student James Greenlee writing to his uncle on November 21, 1859 reported that, “It
would be difficult to find more sturdy & moral set of young men (generally speaking) anywhere as the student of this Coledge, more than two thirds of them are members of the church, still there are some rowdys. Some of the boys
carried off the Coledge bell last week, and we passed nearly a whole day without prayers or recitation, the bell & iron frame is said to have weighed about 800 lb.”

Fifty years later, the editors of the college yearbook gave the bell pride of place in its list of “Campus Monsters.” That legacy has diminished now that the bell only rings weekdays for classes. The current campus bell was given to the
college in 1922 by Brevard McDowell (Class of 1869) as a memorial to Davidson students who died during WWI.