altgeld hall tower

One of the oldest buildings on the campus of the U of I. Very historic and full of academic character. The is the Math Department building. The bells still ring.

This gets 5 stars if you can get a tour of the tower, see the bells, and play them yourself! The chime master is very good about letting others play, even if a total novice. If you're there on your own, the best thing then is the Math library -- beautiful ceiling in this historic building. Without the chimes, just 2 stars.

Can't believe I had my first tour of the Altgeld Chimes 30 years after graduating. They had daily, tours around noon...a must do! You hear history of the building, of the chimes, and if lucky can play a note! Watching her play the chimes....it is quite a workout and she's been doing for ages! Informative, ,historical, and magical for the true Illini!

If you are around the building at noon, don't miss the chimes of the bell. Try to be part of a tour to see the mosaic and the tower.

This attraction is on the University campus [you should tour the whole campus] and the tower by its self is worth a picture but try and get a tour up the bell tower if you have an hour or so.

The bells of Altgeld are probably one of the top symbols of the University of Illinois. I have been working on campus for three years and only now I got the chance to take a tour up to the bell tower.The student who led me and my wife told us about the history of Altgeld's Bell Tower as we were climbing up the stairs to the roof. He knew so much about all the history that was held in on small attic size room that includes the bells clavier, a practice clavier and many pictures and historical books about U of I. We took a tour up the bell tour to see the bells and came back down and got a chance to see a chimesmaster in action. During passing period between class the chimesmaster play songs for 10 minutes. We even got a chance to play "Mary had a little lamb" since we were the only two people taking the tour. The tour isn't too long and the company is great. We really enjoyed being exposed to a wonderful piece of history in central Illinois.