Beta Bells
The Campanile was presented as a Centennial gift of the Beta Theta Pi national fraternity, founded at Miami in 1839. The cornerstone was laid on November 10, 1940 and the tower dedicated on May 17, 1941. The bells, arriving in Oxford in July 1939, were temporarily hung in the east tower of old Harrison Hall, pending construction of the Beta Tower. Individually inscribed with the Greek letters Beta, Theta, Pi, and "1839-1939," the four bells weigh 3,000, 1,200, 800, and 600 pounds and ring in the keys of E flat, A flat, B flat, and C respectively. They were first sounded August 8, 1939, on occasion of their presentation to the University at the Beta Theta Pi Centenary Convocation. They were moved to the Campanile during Spring vacation 1941, and sound the Westminster series on the quarter hour, the large bell striking the hour.