Carillon Historical Park

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Deeds Carilllon


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The carillon was donated by Edith Warton Dobbs, wife of  Edward A Deeds, and commemorated living and dead member of the Deeds family. The 32-bells were cast by the Mendelly Bell Company of Troy, New York, and was the only carillon this firm built, although it had an electric playing mechanism..  The 23 active bells was inscribed with the name of a living family member while the remaining silent bore the names of deceased family members.  The  instrument was first played on December 24, 1941 and was dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1942, by Mrs. Deeds. 

Mrs. Deeds was not pleased with the sound of the bells, which is likely due to the fact that Meneely (Troy) firm did not bother (or did not know how) to tune their bells.  She asked the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough, England, for their advice in 1947 and they suggested replacing the Meneely bells.  This idea was not accepted and various schemes were employed over the next 40 years to make the bells sound like, well, bells.  A celestron was added to the tower in 1948 that consisted of a record player, amplifier and large speakers mounted below the bells, after which concerts generally included pieces from both the carillon and celestron.

At the urging of William De Turk, the existing bells were replaced in 50 new Petit and Fristen bells in 1988 and the electric playing mechanism was replaced with a traditional clavier.  At the point the instrument became a real carillon.  The renovated carillon was dedicated on October 23, 1988.

Seven Petit and Fritsen bells previously owned by John P. Hall were donated by carillonneur Larry Weinstein and installed in 1992.


References
1940 "Mrs. Deeds to Erect Carillon Tower as Musical Memorial," The Journal Herald, April 29, 1940, Page 1.| Part 2 |

1940 "Music Over NCR," NCR Factory News, May 1940

1941 "32 Bells Will Arrive In Fall for Carillon," The Journal Herald, August 24, 1941, Page 5.

1941 "Shipment of 12 Big Bells for Deeds Carillon Arrives Here," Dayton Daily News, October 11, 1941, Page 1.

1941 "Deeds Carillon Gets Its First Bells," Dayton Herald, October 14, 1941, Page 12.

1941 "Formal Approval of Carillon Bells Given by Maker," The Dayton Herald, October 31, 1941, Page 9.
Chester Meneely of Troy.

1941 "Carol on Deeds Carillon," The Dayton Herald, December 24, 1941, Page 1.

1941 "10,000 Join In Easter Dawn Services at Deeds Carillon Bells," The Dayton Herald, April 6, 1942, Page A-7.

1949 Edith Walton Deeds (27 Oct 1869 - 9 Feb 1949) grave

[1950] The Deeds Carillon and Carillon Park  | pdf  |
Page 7:  Once a bell is cast, no alterations can be made in it. If a true tone is not achieved the work must be done over.

1960 Edward A. Deeds (12 Mar 1874 - 1 Jul 1950) grave

1987 "Deeds Carillon renovation begins with ringing of bell," Dayton Daily News, October 2, 1987, Page 9.

1988 "Bells Aren't Ringing," Dayton Daily News, March 16, 1988, Page 1.
Workers begin placing scaffolding at Deeds Carillon on Tuesday, where a major renovation will expand the bell chorus to 50 ringers. In a move that seems contrary to modern trends, the controls will change from an electronic system to one completely operated by hand. And a new playing cabin will be built 80 feet above the ground for the dapper carllloneur. How dapper? Well, the elevator that goes those 80 feet will measure 21 by 28 inches, which eliminates tuba accompanists and fat carillonneurs. Architects Lorenz & Williams Inc. redesigned the 151-foot monument at Carillon Park.

1988 "Carillon's bells worth the wait, hardy fans say," Dayton Daily News, October 24, 1988, Page 3.

1992 "Works is ringing a bell," Dayton Daily News, June 13, 1992, Page 12.
Carillonneur Larry Weinstein is adding 7 bells to the set at Deeds Carillon that he donated..

1992 "A Carillon for Dayton," by William De Turk, Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America 41:14-26 (1992)

2013 "Beverly Buchanan Interview," by John Gouwens, Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America 62:23-31 (2013)
Page 27:  As for Belmont, Larry Weinstein [carillonneur of the Deeds Carillon in Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, Ohio] contacted me about a small carillon that had become available. He wanted the top octave to add to the Dayton carillon and thought we could have the rest to enlarge the Belmont instrument. The school of music dean was against acquiring them, but Mark Brown, historian for the mansion at Belmont, said that from his experience, if you didn’t take an opportunity like that you’d be sorry later. The dean became a good backer and helped raise funds to get the bells needed to fill in the gaps between the existing instrument and the bells they had acquired.
The added bells came from the John P. Hall Estate, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The Hall estate had four carillons, the smallest of which was divided among Berea College, Dayton, and Belmont University. The largest carillon, of forty-seven bells, became the nucleus of the Berea carillon, with a few new bells cast to finish it.


© 2023 Morris A. Pierce