Beaumont Tower
The Beaumont Tower is a structure on the campus of Michigan State University, designed by the architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier and completed in 1928. The 104-foot-tall (32 m) tower marks the site of College Hall, the first building constructed on the campus, as well as the first building in America erected for instruction in scientific agriculture. Due to poor construction, College Hall collapsed in 1918. John W. Beaumont, an 1882 alumni of MSU, proposed the construction of the monument to conserve the Campus Circle and serve as a monument to teaching.
Description
During its dedication ceremony, the president of the college described the Beaumont Tower as "a meeting or trysting place of the students, student groups or organizations, the center of all the activities of this institution". The tower was also to serve as a time piece for the university, directing students' daily activities by sounding hourly.
The tower, designed in the Collegiate Gothic architectural style, features The Sower, an Art Deco bas-relief by sculptor Lee Lawrie (1922), with the inscription "Whatsoever a Man Soweth" (from Galatians 6:7). This serves as a tribute both to MSU's origins as an agricultural college and to the seminal nature of knowledge.
