Photos and Essay by Avery Abernathy '22, Division of Student Affairs

All Aggies have heard the Albritton Bell Tower toll while on Texas A&M’s campus, but have you had a chance to peek inside it? While the tower has been around for quite some time now, the inside remains a mystery to most, until now. Here’s your chance to take a visual journey through the tower.

The 138-foot-tall structure is located at the intersection of Lamar Street and Old Main Drive, in line with the Academic Building and was donated by Ford D. Albritton Jr. ’43 in 1984. 

Behind the locked door at the base of the tower is multiple flights of alternating tread stairs that bring you to the floor with the clocks. There are four clocks all connected by one motor (pictured on the right) that spans the length and width of the tower that turn simultaneously. 

The next flight brings you to the top of the tower where the bells are. In total, the tower houses 49 bells and chimes that were made in a 200 year old French Foundry. There is a small area where you can stand and look at all 49 bells and chimes that make up the top of the tower; many with inscriptions and many turned turquoise from oxidation. 

The first bell (pictured left) you see when coming through the hatch is the bell that is inscribed:

“I ring, I sing, I peal, 

With a mighty force, 

My love for God, family and country

And for that part of my heart 

Which has never left 

These hallowed halls.”

Each day, these bells and chimes are programmed to sound the Westminster Chimes at every quarter hour, a sound that all Aggies are familiar with. At the top through the columns, you are able to see a 360 degree view of campus like no other. It is a view and experience like no other in Aggieland.