Late entrepreneur and philanthropist Robert “Bob” Housley used to sit outside his house near the ASU campus and listen to the original bell chimes. He often talked of bringing them back after the system quit working in the early 2000s, and his dream was finally realized in 2024.
Construction of the Housley Tower was funded by a generous gift from Mona Housley in Bob’s memory. It stands approximately 65-feet tall and sports ASU Ram horns on all four sides of the belfry. Its electronic Verdin Carillon Bell System is programmed with 7,800 available songs in multiple bell voices, including the ASU Fight Song, as well as 25 customizable tolling bells and eight clock chimes.
The Housley Tower system chimes daily at 8 a.m., 11:48 a.m. and 5 p.m. The 11:48 a.m. chimes signify the exact time the legislation was signed that created Angelo State College as a four-year, state-supported institution on May 17, 1963.
The original Quadrabell Carillon Bell System that previously rang out over campus at the top of every hour for almost two decades also had a direct tie back to that momentous date.
Installed at the top of the Mayer Administration Building, that bell system was donated to ASU by Leanorah Harding in memory of her late husband, former State Representative Forrest Harding, who was instrumental in passing the 1963 legislation that created Angelo State College.
Angelo State University President Lloyd Vincent reads a plaque Monday dedicating a carillon bell system in honor of former state Rep. Forrest Harding. The bells were a gift from Harding's widow, Mrs. Leanorah Harding, seated at left. Local banker Frank Junell and ASU regent John Cargile (right) are seated behind Vincent.
Photo is from the San Angelo Standard-Times issue on April 22, 1986.
The original bell system was dedicated on April 21, 1986, exactly a year after Forrest Harding passed away at the age of 71.
Now, the bells in the Housley Tower ring out to continue and enhance the legacy of the Housley and Harding families in perpetuity.