Longwood Gardens

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Chimes Tower at Longwood Gardens

Pierre S. du Pont bought the area that became Longwood Gardens in 1906 and opened it to the public in 1921.  In 1929 he built a round stone tower to resemble a tower he had admired in Châtillon-Coligny, France. He installed the largest chime made by the J.C. Deagan Company, which operated until it was replaced by a thirty-two-note electronic carillon after his death.  This was disconnected in 1989 after falling into disrepair.  The idea of restoring real bells into the tower was broached in 1977 and in June 2000 a contract was signed for a 62-bell Eijsbouts carillon.

The inaugural concert was played on Memorial Day, May 28, 2001 by Robin Austin.  One of the bells was replaced in 2004 and is on display.

References
2009 "The 2009 GCNA Congress: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania," by Julia Littleton, Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America 58:13-21 (2009)
Page 13:  The sixty-one-foot-tall Chimes Tower was built in 1929. Pierre du Pont planned its cylindrical design to resemble a tower he had admired in Châtillon-Coligny, France. It originally held a set of twenty-five tubular chimes bought from the J. C. Deagan Company of Chicago. In 1956, two years after du Pont died, a thirty-two-note electronic carillon was installed in the tower in place of the tubular chimes. This device played the quarter hours and was regularly used for concerts until 1981; it was disconnected in 1989, having fallen into disrepair. Royal Eijsbouts built the sixty-two-bell carillon that now occupies the Chimes Tower, installing it in 2001. Its bourdon is a bass-octave A-sharp weighing 6,908 pounds, and the instrument is in concert pitch. The total weight of all the bells is 38,148 pounds

Longwood Garden Carillon History  

Longwood Gardens (Wikipedia)
Carillon - In 1929, Pierre du Pont constructed Longwood's 61-foot-tall stone Chimes Tower based on a similar structure he had seen in France. He purchased the largest set of tower chimes he could find from the J.C. Deagan Company of Chicago after first borrowing one chime to test its carrying power. Twenty-five tubular chimes were installed in the upper tower chamber and du Pont installed a switch in the Peirce-du Pont House so he could activate the chimes from his residence. These were replaced by an electronic carillon in 1956, and finally by a 62-cast-bell Eijsbouts carillon from the Netherlands installed in 2001

© 2023 Morris A. Pierce