The Centralia Carillon

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William Joy, a bell enthusiast and editor of the Centralia Sentinel, started planning to build a carillon in 1957. He formed the non-profit Centralia Foundatiom to build and support the instrument. The first bell was cast in Holland in 1968, but did not fit with the remaining 65 bells that were cast by Paccard in France so the 1968 bell was sold to a church in Carbondale.

Ground was broken for the bell tower on August 8, 1982 and according to Karel Keldermanns he played the first recital on the carillon on November 8, 1983, although he was running it through its paces the next day when he got splinters from the temporary wooden bench and broke his 'G' string. The tower also swayed in the wind and leaked badly onto the clavier.

References
1983 "Bell Tower Becomes Reality," Daily Republican-Register, July 1, 1983, Page 13.

1983 "Hopes for a big bell come true three-fold for Lutheran Center," Southern Illinoisan, May 13, 1983, Page 6.
The second stroke of luck: Ranta discovered a non-profit organization in Centralia, which has been raising funds for what is to be the largest carillon in the United States, had an extra bell on its hands a bell in the tone of D. The bell, cast in Holland in 1968, was the first of the carillon to be cast. Unfortunately for the Centralia Carillon, the remaining bells in the 62-note carillon were cast in France, and the "D" had a slightly different tone than the French bells.
Fortunately for the Lutheran center, however, the Centralia group was willing to sell the 420-pound bell for slightly more than scrap costs $1,940 or a little more than $4 a pound.

1983 "Carillon Ringing in 'Shake Down'," Centralia Sentinel, November 9, 1983

1983 "A Well-Tempered Clavier?," Centralia Sentinel, November 2, 1983
Intense wind costs are causing the tower to sway, and the wind moving across the wires leading from the playing room to the bell tower sound as an aeolian harp.
In playing the bells during the testing sessions, Karel Keldermanns, consulting carillionneur, has suffered a case of the splinters while seated on the board being used a the clavier seat. The permanent oak seat has not arrived from France. Keldermanns also shapped the 'G' string while playing the instrument.

1983 "Carillon Concert Depends on Rain," Centralia Sentinel, November 23, 1983
Things are better, but some water still comes in on the wooden keyboard. A new roof may have to be applied.

1983 "Carillon Program," Centralia Sentinel, November 27, 1983
(Providing there is no rain)

1984 "Centralia, excerpts from letters by William Joy," Carillon News 31:6 (April 1984)

1986 "Carilloneur mixes rock and bell-ringing classics," Southern Illinoisan, December 16, 1986, Page 11.
"It's the colossus of keyboard instruments," said William Joy, owner and publisher of the Centralia Sentinel and a major underwriter of the carillon's installation.
The newspaper proposed construction of the carillon in 1957 in this Marion County city of about 15,000 people, located about 70 miles east of St. Louis.
Originally, it was supposed to be on top of the Sentinel, Joy said, but it became too heavy, and a special tower had to be erected for the instrument, located about 100 yards from the newspaper.
The Sentinel lent the non-profit Centralia Foundation half of the project's more than $1 million cost, and Joy lent most of the balance. He said both he and the newspaper are being repaid from bequests to a trust fund.
Townspeople have been buying the bells over a period of 25 years, many of them purchased as memorials.
"It's the people's instrument, really," Joy said.
The carillon has been operable since 1983.

1988 "Centralia publisher William Joy dies," Southern Illinoisan, December 2, 1988, Page 9.
Joy also was the driving force behind the construction of the Centralia Carillon, a project of the Centralia Foundation that he guided to completion in 1983. He broke ground for the project, which features 65 bells in a 160-foot tower, on Aug. 8, 1982. The biggest of the bells, "Great Tom," was named for Joy's greatgrandfather, Thomas Joy, editor and publisher of the Sentinel from 1980 to 1906.

1996 Carillon: the evolution of a concert instrument in North America, by Karel and Linda Keldermans | also here |
Page 190: The Centralia Carillon was built by William Joy, the former publisher of the Centralia Sentinel. Joy established a tnist for the carillon with the Centralia Foundation, a community benevolent organization, to oversee the operation of the tower and instrument. Although the project began in 1957, the tower was not constructed until 1982, and the carillon not installed until 1983. Karel Keldermans served as consultant for the carillon installation, and played the first recital on November 8, 1983. Since Joy's death, the Centralia Foundation and the Sentinel continue to support the regular concert series and guest recitals. In the fall of 1995, a new umbrella system was installed by Meeks, Watson & Co.

2022 "Centralia Carillon undergoing upgrades," Centralia Sentinel, November 17, 2022

Centralia Carillon

Centralia Foundation Carillon