Carillon Historical Park (Dayton, Ohio); Carillons -- Ohio -- Dayton
The DEEDS CARILLON
and
Carillon Park
[Illustration: Throughout her life, Mrs. Edward A. Deeds was a lover
of music. By the time she had reached her early teens she was an
accomplished musician. From then until her passing in 1949, music
remained one of the dominant interests of her life. Her desire to
share the beauty of good music with others found expression in many
ways and culminated in her decision to erect a Carillon which for
generations to come would be a source of enjoyment and relaxation
for the people of this community. She saw this dream fulfilled when
on Easter Sunday in April, 1942, the Deeds Carillon bells rang out
in a program of Easter music. The beautiful shaft with its
thirty-two bells became a striking symbol of the interest of Mrs.
Deeds in music and in the community of which she was so long a
part.]
[Illustration: Deeds Carillon]
The Deeds Carillon
Carillon Park owes its existence to the generosity of two
public-spirited Dayton citizens, Colonel and Mrs. Edward A. Deeds. It is
an expression of the interests of two people expanded for the pleasure
and advancement of the entire community.
The Park had its inception with the Carillon, the gift of Mrs. Deeds.
Devoted to music from her girlhood, and herself an accomplished
musician, she had the inspiration for it while listening to the chimes
in one of the famous old belfries of Bruges. As the melodious notes fell
on her ears she said to herself, “In no other way can simple and
inspiring music be spread among the entire populace.” In that hour was
born the idea of the Deeds Carillon which rears its majestic height in
the midst of Carillon Park.
The idea of combining a group of bells to form a carillon dates back to
the Middle Ages. Since bells provided the world’s oldest and most simple
form of musical expression there came the evolution from a call to
prayer to a musical program. Some of Europe’s most famed and beautiful
towers have carillons. The carillon was developed to a greater and more
artistic extent in Belgium than in any other continental country, not
only in Bruges but also in Antwerp, Ghent, and Mechlin. Around the
carillon bells has been woven a tradition of beauty and inspirational
service.
[Illustration: Mrs. Edward A. Deeds and Colonel Deeds at the first
regularly scheduled carillon program August 23, 1942.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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