Switzler Hall is an academic hall on the campus of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in Columbia, Missouri. The building was completed in 1872, and it is located on the west side of the David R. Francis Quadrangle. Switzler Hall is the oldest academic building and second oldest structure on campus after the Chancellor's Residence. The building was named after Colonel

William Franklin Switzler William Franklin Switzler (March 16, 1819 – May 24, 1906) was an American lawyer, journalist, publisher, and historian from Columbia, Missouri. Biography William F. Switzler was born in Fayette County, Kentucky. In 1826 his family moved t ...

, editor and publisher of the Missouri Statesman and supporter of the University. Today the building houses the Department of Communication, Women's and Gender Studies, and the Special Degrees Program. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bell Tower

One component of Switzler Hall is the bell tower. The bell was given to the University by Major

James S. Rollins James Sidney Rollins (April 19, 1812 – January 9, 1888) was a nineteenth-century Missouri politician and lawyer. He helped establish the University of Missouri, led the successful effort to get it located in Boone County, and gained funding ...

and is inscribed with the words "Nunc occasion est et tempus," which translated is, "Now is the occasion and the time." While the bell originally rang for classes until 1936, it now only rings for Tap Day, the Mizzou 39 ceremony, and to honor the passing of members of the MU family. During the time the bell was used to signal the start of classes, it was a longstanding prank among many student to steal the bell's clapper, so that the signal for classes to start would not be sounded.

Silo

Switzler Hall is also home to a mysterious three-story "silo" through the center of the structure. The cylindrical, 8-foot-diameter, brick, silo rises from the basement to the roof of the building. In the middle of the silo, a solid wooden structure, which resembles some sort of dumbwaiter device or ladder, also rises to the attic. The purpose of the silo is still unknown; however, some of the proposed original uses include use as a means of roof access, as part of a heating and cooling system, as a drop tower for physics students, or as an elaborate means of venting chemical work on the lower floors.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places listings in Boone County, Missouri University of Missouri campus University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri University and college academic buildings in the United States School buildings completed in 1872 Historic district contributing properties in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Boone County, Missouri