Campus Bells

There are three bell towers on campus, one at Devereux Hall, one at Doyle Hall, and one in Francis Hall.  

The bells located at Doyle hall, were built as part of the dedication of the Friary of St.. Bonaventure in 1961, and are now part of the chapel at the end of Doyle Hall; there are three bells in the tower which are dedicated to Mary, queen of the order of friars.  The bells at Doyle are no longer running and instead a electronic system rings every fifteen minutes throughout the day starting at 9:00 AM and ending at 9:00 PM.   

The bell tower in Devereux used to house the bell from the tower which was part of Lynch Hall; when the building burned the bell survived but was damaged.  After having the bell recast, the university placed it in the bell tower of Devereux Hall.  The music which you hear coming from that tower is not actually a created by bells, but instead by a Schulmerich Novabell #3 instrument.  This machine creates electronic signals, sends them to an amplifier, and then they come out of speakers in the bell tower in Devereux.  This system is operated by security services here on campus out of a system located in the basement of Butler Gymnasium.  The system plays songs according to seasons, there is a system to play holiday songs, and also a system to play popular genre music for the rest of the year, such as "Michelle" from the Beatles and "Fly me to the Moon" popularized by Frank Sinatra.  The bells ring once a day at 6:30pm.  The electronic bells in Devereux were donated by Dr. and Mrs. William M. McAndrews from Oil City, Pennsylvania in 1979 in honor of Rev. Mark Kennedy, O.F.M.  McAndrews graduated from Bonaventure in the class of 1929. 

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Enoch, Joe.  "For Whom Our Bells Toll.  The Mystery Solved Behind the Melodies that Serenade you throughout the day"  The Bona Venture 11 October 2002: 6.
Szymanski, Dave. "Alumnus Donates Dev. Chimes" The Bona Venture 28 September 1979: 7.