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Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower

Clock towers in North CarolinaNorth Carolina building and structure stubsTowers completed in 1931Towers in North CarolinaUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill buildings
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill landmarks
Bell tower in Chapel Hill (cropped)
Bell tower in Chapel Hill (cropped)

The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower is a functioning bell tower located on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). It is a 172-foot-tall tower with a Roman numeral clock built-in on each of the four sides of the tower. The top of the bell tower holds an observation area. It is topped by a conical spire structure. The area around the bell tower is surrounded by hedges and a grass lawn designed by University botany professor William Chambers Coker, who also designed the Coker Arboretum on campus. The tower is one of the most visible landmarks on campus.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower
South Road,

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N 35.9086 ° E -79.0492 °
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Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower

South Road 200
27514
North Carolina, United States
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unc.edu

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Bell tower in Chapel Hill (cropped)
Bell tower in Chapel Hill (cropped)
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Tin Can (basketball arena)

The Indoor Athletic Court (commonly known as the Tin Can or the Indoor Athletic Center) was the home of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team from January 8, 1924, through February 17, 1938, across fifteen seasons. Due to increased demand for viewing the varsity basketball team and limited capacity at then home court Bynum Gymnasium, the university appropriated $54,482.45 to have a structure built to house the team. Then Graduate Manager of Athletics Charles T. Woollen decided to build a temporary structure with those funds and a more permanent venue later. Plans were purchased and work began in October 1923. The building, which was a completely steel structure, was built with galvanized steel sheet siding and roof. Many felt the building did not have an attractive exterior. The building featured one bathroom, no locker or dressing rooms, and no heating system, initially. Quickly the building earned a reputation for being cold during the winter and hot during the summer time. An official heating system and, later individual heaters, were added to the building, but did not help the temperature problem. The men's basketball team moved to the Woollen Gymnasium in 1939. During their time in the Tin Can, the Tar Heels won several Southern Conference championships: six regular season titles and four conference tournament titles. Aside from basketball the building was used for many other sports including: wrestling, fencing, and boxing, among others. It hosted the Southern Indoor Track and Field Games for the Southern Conference for nine years. Outside of athletics, the Tin Can was the site of many class picnics, school dances, class registration, and concerts. In the 1930s and 1940s, the building hosted several big bands and artists including Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey. Following the basketball team's departure, students continued to use the facility for sports, while adjustments were made to allow for volleyball and golf. After World War II, the building was used as a temporary dormitory for around 275 students. When a structure was announced to be built in the Tin Can's location in 1976, the university's trustees weighed the costs of moving the existing structure to the east end of Fetzer Field or tearing down the Tin Can and building a replica in the aforementioned location. Ultimately, the structure was torn down and a new one built on Fetzer Field. In total, the university used the temporary building for 54 years.

Bynum Hall
Bynum Hall

Bynum Hall (formerly Bynum Gymnasium) is the current home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate Admissions office and was the first home of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. At an executive meeting on October 2, 1903, school President Francis Preston Venable announced that former North Carolina Supreme Court justice William Preston Bynum donated $25,000 to have a gymnasium built in honor of his grandson who was a student at the university and had died due to typhoid fever. Architect Frank P. Milburn drafted plans for the structure, which were then approved by Bynum and the university's Board of Trustees. The building was designed to have a Greek architecture influence and had three stories with an above-ground basement. It originally contained a swimming pool, gymnasium, office spaces, and other rooms for various sports like boxing and fencing. The building started construction by June 1904 and was completed by February 1905. Upon opening, the pool was reportedly very cold, prompting water boilers to be added later in the year. The building was formally presented during commencement in May 1905. The gym was placed into control of Dr. Robert Lawson, a skilled gymnast and the former coach of the school's baseball team. The gymnasium served as a venue for various school dances. Bynum Gym hosted the gymnastics team and later the men's basketball team, which formed in late 1910 and had its first game in the venue on January 27, 1911. The Tar Heels played thirteen seasons in Bynum Gym before moving to the Tin Can. After the basketball team's departure, Bynum was still used by students for activities; however, the pool was closed in 1924 due to having an inadequate filtration system. Following a renovation in 1938 that added a third floor, the journalism department and the University News Bureau moved into the building, sharing the building with the University Press that had occupied the basement. Over the years the journalism department moved out, some rooms were used as classrooms or storage. The building now serves as an administration building that includes the Dean of Graduate Studies and university counsel.

Woollen Gymnasium
Woollen Gymnasium

The Charles T. Woollen Gymnasium (commonly known as the Woollen Gymnasium or Woollen) was the home of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team from January 2, 1939, through February 27, 1965, across twenty-six seasons. Due to increased demand for viewing the varsity basketball team and limited capacity at then home court the Tin Can, school president Frank Porter Graham and Charles T. Woollen requested public funds for a new gymnasium and women's dormitory. After being rejected at the federal level, the North Carolina Public Works would award a grant of $283,090 to build a new gymnasium and the school would have to fundraise to cover the cost's remainder. The plans for the building included multi–level building that included an attached swimming pool, along with a main lobby that would overlook the main gymnasium area. Aside from varsity basketball, the building was used for physical education classes, recreational activity for students, and office spaces. Construction stretched from 1937 to 1938 and, upon completion, was seen as "modern" and one of the highest–quality basketball facilities in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The gym was first used competitively for intramural fencing in the spring of 1938. The Tar Heels had great success in the building, winning several conference championships and even winning the national championship to culminate a perfect season in 1956–57. As the Tar Heels increased in popularity and demand increased, Woollen began to be viewed as small. The university began moving some of its home games to Charlotte or Greensboro to allow for more to attend and bring in more revenue. The Tar Heels left for Carmichael Auditorium before the start of the 1965–66 season, an auditorium that was built attached to Woollen as per stipulated by the funds awarded by the North Carolina legislature. After the Tar Heels' departure, the facility was frequently used for course registration, pick–up basketball, and now the Exercise and Sports Science department is based in the building.