Historically, a freestanding campanile was first suggested on the Campus Plan from 1913. The tower would have been centered in the south quadrangle that was being planned/developed at the time. It continued to appear in various revisions of the plan until the 1920's when Charles A. Platt was brought on as Consulting Architect for design of the new agriculture building, now Mumford Hall, and revision of the Campus Plan. James White, Supervising Architect and co-architect of the old Library, now Altgeld Hall, prepared a study for a campanile/clock tower that would be located in the center of the south quadrangle at the intersection of the east/west and north/south axes of the "new" campus in 1920. This would have placed it near the old farm house, now Mumford House.
White 1919 Campanile Study - White 1919 Campus Plan - Platt 1927 Campus Plan
University Campus in 1920
Source: History of the Growth and Development of the Campus of the University of Illinois, 1930
Maintained by chimes@uiuc.edu