If people had stuck to the original plan, there would never have been a Carillon Tower. The Class of 1917 wanted to replace the dome on Bascom Hall, which had burned in 1916, and then to install a set of chimes in it. The Classes of 1918 through 1926 liked this plan as well, and a decade’s worth of alumni contributed to the cause of replacing the Bascom dome. But in 1931, Wisconsin state architect Arthur Peabody determined that a dome was structurally unfeasible and aesthetically unwarranted on Bascom Hall. (And presumably, UW administrators determined that hourly chimes were not conducive to their concentration.) But this didn’t deter the UW grads, who by 1932 had raised enough money that they could not only buy bells, but a structure in which to hang them. In 1933, Peabody submitted a design for a free-standing bell tower. The Carillon Tower was dedicated in June 1936 (with a concert that featured “On, Wisconsin!” and “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes” played on the bells). Though the Carillon originally had 25 bells, it now has 56, covering four and a half octaves.

The art for the Badger Pride Wall was created for WAA by Madison illustrator Nate Koehler.