The DEEDS CARILLON
and
Carillon Park
Throughout her life, Mrs. Edward A. Deeds was a lover of music.By the time she had reached her early teens she was an accomplishedmusician. From then until her passing in 1949, musicremained one of the dominant interests of her life. Her desire toshare the beauty of good music with others found expression inmany ways and culminated in her decision to erect a Carillonwhich for generations to come would be a source of enjoymentand relaxation for the people of this community. She saw thisdream fulfilled when on Easter Sunday in April, 1942, the DeedsCarillon bells rang out in a program of Easter music. The beautifulshaft with its thirty-two bells became a striking symbol of theinterest of Mrs. Deeds in music and in the community of whichshe was so long a part.
The Deeds Carillon
Carillon Park owes its existence to the generosity of two public-spiritedDayton citizens, Colonel and Mrs. Edward A. Deeds. It is anexpression of the interests of two people expanded for the pleasure andadvancement of the entire community.
The Park had its inception with the Carillon, the gift of Mrs. Deeds.Devoted to music from her girlhood, and herself an accomplishedmusician, she had the inspiration for it while listening to the chimes inone of the famous old belfries of Bruges. As the melodious notes fell onher ears she said to herself, “In no other way can simple and inspiringmusic be spread among the entire populace.” In that hour was born theidea of the Deeds Carillon which rears its majestic height in the midstof Carillon Park.
The idea of combining a group of bells to form a carillon dates backto the Middle Ages. Since bells provided the world’s oldest and mostsimple form of musical expression there came the evolution from a call2to prayer to a musical program. Some of Europe’s most famed andbeautiful towers have carillons. The carillon was developed to a greaterand more artistic extent in Belgium than in any other continentalcountry, not only in Bruges but also in Antwerp, Ghent, and Mechlin.Around the carillon bells has been woven a tradition of beauty andinspirational service.
Mrs. Edward A. Deedsand Colonel Deeds atthe first regularly scheduledcarillon programAugust 23, 1942.
Before embarking on her enterprise Mrs. Deeds viewed many carillonsat home and abroad and made a careful study of bells. The initialrequirement was to find a site which would provide the best ultimateresults from carillon music without echo and the jumbling of tone. Earlyin her planning Mrs. Deeds considered Deeds Park at the junction ofthe Miami River and Mad River. This park—a gift of Colonel Deedsto the city of Dayton—would have made an appropriate setting. Theidea was reluctantly abandoned because of interfering noises and sounddeflection which would occur in the area. Finally Mrs. Deeds decidedupon a site in