Typical Sunday Afternoon Carillon Park Program
CARILLON 1. America 2. Song of Faith 3. Rock of Ages 4. The Holy City 5. In the Garden 6. When They Ring the Golden Bells 7. Goin’ Home 8. Great God of Nations 9. In a Monastery Garden 10. The Bells of London 11. The Bells of St. Mary’s 12. Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life 13. Pilgrim’s Chorus 14. Land of Hope and Glory 15. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring 16. Rhapsody for Bells CELESTRON 1. Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (Haydn) World Choristers 2. Spanish Caprice (Rimsky-Korsakoff) Cincinnati Summer Opera Orchestra 3. Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming (Foster) Jesse Crawford, Organist 4. Fight On (Sweet and Grant) Frank Westerfield Band 5. The Hills of Home (Fox) Nelson Eddy, Baritone 6. King Cotton March (Sousa) Frank Westerfield Band 7. I’m Falling in Love With Someone (Herbert) Jane Marcy and Roland Smythe 8. Flapperette (Greer) Wilson Ames, Organist 9. Just A-Wearyin’ for You (Bond) Walter Preston, Baritone 10. Waltzing Doll (Poldini) Daniel Lieberfeld Orchestra 11. The Star-Spangled Banner
CELESTRON
An especially designed amplifying installation for the playing of recorded music. 32 high-fidelity speakers. Uniform frequency range from 50 to 15,000 cycles. Total operating power—5,500 watts. Bronze Galeria 12 ft. in width; located 35 ft. above terrace. Record player in Console Room. Control panels in Power Room.
The sectional diagram at the left shows the construction and arrangement of the Carillon both above and below ground. The map shows location and parking area.
| Number of bells | 32 |
| Total weight of bell chandelier | 32 tons |
| Diameter smallest bell | 1 ft. 6 in. |
| Diameter largest bell | 6 ft. |
| Height of tower above terrace | 151 ft. 6 in. |
| Height of tower from bottom of foundation | 183 ft. 7 in. |
| Construction: | |
| Indiana Limestone with Granite Base. | |
| 1 Chandelier of bells | |
| 2 Galeria for Celestron | |
| 3 Carillon Console Room and Celestron Record Player | |
| 4 Power Room | |
| 5 Basement | |
A most spectacular step in bell-making comes when the copper and tin are melted and mixed in the oil furnace, brought to just the proper temperature, and then carried in a huge ladle from which the molten alloy is poured into the mold.
Larger bells are kept buried in dirt for days after the casting to retard their cooling. Sometimes weeks go by before the bell can be “shaken out” and the founder gets the final check on the accuracy of his calculations.
The Meneely Bell Company foundry represented a curious mixture of the old and the new. There was the main foundry with its large modern oil melting furnaces in which was blended the age-old mixture of copper and tin which is known in the textbooks as “bell metal”.... Out in the next shop were the blacksmith and his helper, skillfully working iron into the special bell mountings. Immediately behind this was the finishing room where large and small bells were cleaned and buffed, while finished ones were being set into their mountings for final tests before shipment. Upstairs, patterns and cabinets were fashioned from wood; while on a nearby drafting board a chime would take form as it would fit into its final position in the tower.
In making bells, there must be a complete understanding of the technical elements that make a bell ring true. Meneely’s men knew that a pure tone was a definite number of vibrations per second as sensed by the human ear.
The sound of a single tone is pleasant but colorless. The usual tone is made up of a number of different pure tones, blending together, with the dominant one giving the tone its pitch. Practically everything that will vibrate will produce a tone, but only certain combinations will have the musical qualities which distinguish them from unpleasant “noise.”
In this country, the commonest form of chime is that found in clock towers. Principally used to strike the quarters and hours, these bells are usually stationary and seldom number more than four or five; hence no complete airs can be played with them.
From an acoustical standpoint the Deeds Carillon is ideally located. The hills to the south provide a natural sounding board and enhance the tone of the music.
Chimes usually contain a minimum of ten bells, which give enough tones in the diatonic scale to permit the rendering of hundreds of complete hymns, folk songs, etc., in simple harmonies. Chimes are typically an American form of art and are found in our churches in every part of the country. The bells do not move, but the clappers are operated from manual claviers, or by modern electrical methods employing small piano-like keyboards.
This picture shows how the bells are mounted on the chandelier and hang suspended from the top of the Carillon. The larger bells are at the top of the chandelier.
The regular Sunday afternoon concerts at Carillon Park have drawn music lovers in ever-increasing numbers. In the informal atmosphere of a beautiful park on a sunny summer afternoon, there is pleasure and relaxation for all the family. The hour-long program is now divided between numbers played on the bells and recorded music amplified through the Celestron.
The first regularly scheduled Deeds Carillon program was presented on Sunday, August 23, 1942, in the presence of a capacity crowd. The first two programs were played by Mrs. Deeds. Since that inaugural day, programs are given every Sunday afternoon, June through October, and at Easter Sunrise.
Once Carillon Park had been created, Colonel Deeds stepped into the picture for his contribution to the project. His wise counsel and sense of perfection had contributed much to the success of the tower construction. He now set about to gratify his love for the historic with the larger conception of providing a group of exhibits that would be a visual lesson in history. The striking parade of transportation in the Park dating from the picturesque days of the Conestoga wagon and the Concord coach to the Wright airplane is the result. Every exhibit meant painstaking research and discriminating choice.
The Deeds Carillon stands on a three-acre tract purchased by Mrs. Deeds from NCR. The property was, in turn deeded to Educational and Musical Arts, Incorporated. This is an administrative subsidiary of the Dayton Foundation, especially created to carry out the construction and perpetuation plans through a group of Dayton’s civic leaders who were proud and glad to assume the responsibility. The financial requirements for maintenance and operation are met through an endowment fund created by Mrs. Deeds and contributions of Colonel Deeds.
Carillon Park is unique among the gifts for public enjoyment in that it serves a threefold purpose. The Carillon itself, with its eloquent and deep-toned bells, is a spiritual stimulant for Dayton, a source of beauty and inspiration. The Park, a natural beauty spot, is a sanctuary for all people, while the historical exhibits are highly educational.
