Virginia World War Memorial Carillon

Links to Carillon Inventories
GCNA	Tower Bells	Bok Tower Gardens

Virginians sought to build a suitable memorial to their World War I dead for many years until Granville Valentine suggested that a carillon would be most appropriate. This idea gathered steam and was backed by the state legislature in 1928. The state funded the tower and a public subscription paid for the 35 bells cast by the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough, England, that was dedicated on October 15, 1932 by Anton Brees.

References
1925 "A Carillon Memorial," Richmond News Leader, March 10, 1925, Page 8.
A carillon is Granville Valentine's suggestion for the Virginia war memorial.

1925 "Interest in Carillon Form of Memorial's Spreading," Richmond Times Dispatch, April 7 1925, Page 2.

1925 "Suggests City of Richmond Erect Carillon as Memorial," Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 27, 1925, Page 1.

1926 "Approves Plan to Purchase Bells," Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 8, 1926, Page 4.
State-Wide Drive to Collect $100,000 for Carillon to be Made.

1928 "Virginia Legislature is Asked to Erect Carillon Tower in Memory of State's War Dead," The Bristol Herald Courier, January 15, 1928, Page 11 | Part 2 |

1928 Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia
CHAP. 522.—An ACT to continue the war memorial commission created by an act approved March 20, 1924, and continued by an act approved March 24, 1926; to provide for the erection of a memorial in the form of a carillon to the patriotism and valor of the soldiers, sailors, marines and women from Virginia who served in the world war; and to appropriate moneys to carry out the provisions of this act. March 28, 1928

1932 "State's Singing Tower of Bells to be Dedicated as Memorial For World War Dead Today," Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 15, 1932, Page 1 | Part 2 |.

1932 "15,000 Bow to War Dead at Dedication of Memorial," Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 16, 1932, Page 1 | Part 2 |

2018 "Creating Virginia’s War Memorial Carillon: A Citizens’ Campaign for a Memorial to Call Their Own," by Jessica Lambertz Witek, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 126(1):44-81 (2018)

The Virginia World War Memorial Carillon