Rising 172 feet, the Bell Tower was built in 1931, a gift of John Motley Morehead, Class of 1891, and Rufus Lenoir Patterson II. The university dedicated the bell tower on Thanksgiving Day, 1931.
The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower is surrounded by a hedge and lawn designed by William C. Coker, botany professor and creator of the campus Arboretum. The tower's belfry once contained a carillon of twelve manually operated bells; now there are fourteen mechanized ones. The largest bell is inscribed "Governor John Motley Morehead," the tower creator's grandfather, and the second largest bears the name of William Lenoir. Both men played prominent roles in university and state history.
The Bell Tower's 14-bell carillon rings manually and electronically, chimes every 15 minutes and also serenades the campus after football games and special events. A Carolina tradition is the Senior Bell Tower Climb, an event for the senior class to climb the 128 steps to the top. The Bell Tower is lit Carolina blue at the beginning of the fall semester, after football game wins and national championship victories.