Charles Baird Carillon

Header image above: Charles Baird Carillon by Reain Zhang (2021). Photo courtesy: Carillons at The University of Michigan Facebook

Bells of the Charles Baird Carillon at the top of the Burton Tower (2024). Photo by Kevin Vreeken.

The Striking Impact of Charles Baird

by Kevin Vreeken

Feeling the vibrations of 53 large bells striking simultaneously around you while 120 feet above Ann Arbor is breathtaking. The Charles Baird Carillon, housed in the Burton Tower, invites you to the tenth floor to experience the expansive views and the echoes from the collection of bells that make up the third heaviest carillon in the world (“Charles Baird”). The namesake of this magnificent place upheld values and achievements that were greater than just himself, and with that, his name proudly upholds the weight of the bells.

Ringing high above Central Campus, the Charles Baird Carillon "contains 55 bells, weighing from 31 pounds to 12 tons" each (“U-M Charles"). Installed in 1936, it was the first of two carillons on the University of Michigan's campus, the other being the Lurie Tower on North Campus (“Charles Baird”). Despite what the bells may ring to mind, Charles Baird's forte was football, not music; though "Baird, the University of Michigan’s first athletic director, donated the carillon" (“Charles Baird”).

Baird began his reign at Michigan in 1890, and by 1893 he was appointed the manager of the football team, while still a student (Hilton). He "graduated in 1895 with degrees from both the law school and the literary college, but stayed on for postgraduate work in law. That season, Michigan won every game but one, including a victory over Chicago in front of a crowd of 10,000" (Hilton). Before Baird, Michigan Football games were maxing out at 600 spectators. To put that into perspective, "Ivy League teams were playing to crowds of 30,000" (Hilton).

Charles Baird cropped from the Michigan football team picture by Rentschlers Studio (1900). Photo Courtesy: Bentley Historical Library.

However, Baird's journey to transform the team was not only made of high notes. Baird was suspended in 1895 due to allegations of recruiting players who were not enrolled in the school. Though, by 1898 he returned by popular demand to UM "with faculty status," managing and scheduling not only the football team but also "all of Michigan’s sports teams... This centralized structure made him, in all but title, the nation’s first athletic director" (Hilton). Baird went on to raise Michigan Football even further. He was able to get UM a much-needed expanded and enhanced stadium to compete with the ones Ivy Leagues were building (what would come to be known as Ferry Field, "the country’s largest college stadium, with room for 40,000 fans" at the time) (Hilton). He also brought in Fielding Yost as the head football coach, leading to great success for the football team (Hilton).

Engraved tribute to Charles Baird, and Marion Leroy Burton (2024). Photo by: Kevin Vreeken.

Like the man who did so much for Michigan, the name Charles is a popular one. It has ranked in the top 100 since the 1900s, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. Charles means "free man" and became popular thanks to the medieval emperor "Charlemagne, the first Charles the Great" (Duddy). The surname Baird means “poetic” or “one who sings ballads,” according to the name definition website The Bump... apropos for the name of a carillon tower that rings out over campus with "thirty-minute recitals... at noon every weekday that classes are in session" (“Charles Baird”).

Works Cited

“Baird.” Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity, The Bump, thebump.com/b/baird-baby-name. Accessed 29 Sep. 2024.

“Charles Baird Carillon.” University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 15 Nov. 2023, smtd.umich.edu/facilities/burton-memorial-tower/charles-baird-carillon/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2024.

“Charles Name Meaning - Charles Origin, Popularity & History.” Hamariweb, hamariweb.com/names/christian/english/boy/charles-meaning_10639/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

Duddy, Nicole. “Charles.” Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity, The Bump, 1 Nov. 2024, thebump.com/b/charles-baby-name. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

Hilton, John. “Charles Baird: Visionary for Town and Gown.” Ann Arbor Observer, 5 Mar. 2022, annarborobserver.com/charles-baird-visionary-for-town-and-gown/.

“Popular Baby Names.” U.S. Social Security Administration, n.d., ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi.

Rentschlers Studio. “1901 University of Michigan’s Football Team.” University of Michigan Digital Library, 1901, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhl/x-bl001019/bl001019.

“U-M Charles Baird Carillon.” Destination Ann Arbor, 2024. annarbor.org/listing/u-m-charles-baird-carillon/1320/

Vreeken, Kevin. Charles Baird Carillon Bells, 19 Sept. 2024. Author’s Personal Collection.

Vreeken, Kevin. Engraved Baird tribute, 19 Sept. 2024. Author’s Personal Collection.

Zhang, Reain. Photo of Charles Baird Carillon, Carillons at The University of Michigan Facebook page, 15 Mar. 2021, facebook.com/UMCarillon/photos/the-baird-carillon-looks-beautiful-thanks-to-the-bicentennial-illumination-syste/3939293099482908/?_rdr Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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