*Location:

   Chime tower
   The Mall
   Manchester College
   East College Avenue
   North Manchester, Indiana, USA
   LL: N 41.01183, W 85.76160

   Administration Building
   East College Avenue at Bond Street
   LL: N 41.01054, W 85.76261

Site locator map (both locations)

*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   Manchester College
   604 East College Avenue
   North Manchester, IN  46962-0365
   T: 260-982-5000  or  -5292  or  -5285
   F: 260-982-5553
   E: admitinfo@manchester.edu
   - or -
   Dr.Debra Lynn, Chair, Dept. of Music
   E: djlynn/@/manchester DOTedu

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Affiliated with Church of the Brethren.
   Original added semitone is flat 7th.
   Original electric action was removed
   within a year after installation.
   Also in the original belfry was an 1890
   Vanduzen & Tift bell which once
   served as an hour strike.
   Bells removed in 2021, building then
   demolished.  Verdin retuned bells, cast
   sharp 4th and 3 trebles, and built a
   new tower frame; disposition of the V&T
   bell is unknown, as is the location of
   the electric controls.

*Technical data:

   Electric-keyboard chime of 14 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the middle octave
   Transposition is up  4 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     C G   /    NONE  
   There are two added semitones
   The instrument was enlarged in 2022
     with bells made by the maker cited in Remarks above
   Prior history:
     In 1922, the instrument was begun with 10 bells
       by McShane     
       Keyboard range was:     C D   /    NONE  
       There was one added semitone
   Auxiliary mechanisms: E     
   Tower details: 
     Height of console:                  . meters above ground
     Height of lowest level of bells:    6 meters above ground
     Height of highest level of bells:  12 meters above ground
     Belfry openness:  98%
   Year of latest technical information source is 2022

The college Website once had a picture of the Administration Building on the home page.  Use the search facility there for "chime" to find many related news and history articles, though somewhat confusingly, many of the "results" will point to a search results page in the college archives.
News article (8 Sep 2022) on the installation of the bells in the frame of their new tower, with a photo which can be opened for a larger version.  Note that the shipping braces for the bells have not yet been removed, and the masonry for the lower part of the tower has not yet been added.
Alumni newsletter article (Aug.2022) on the tower project, opening with an architectural rendering of the completed structure.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the McShane bellfoundry.

Ranking among all North American chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American chimes by weight (pitch).
Ranking among all North American chimes by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in IN.

   This page was built from the database on  4-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/09/09
   and on technical data last updated on 2022/09/09