[2][3][4] Begun in 1953 by the Auchter Company[5] to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of UF's parent institution, the East Florida Seminary in Ocala, it also serves as a memorial for students and alumni who perished in both World War I and World War II.

[6] The design carries forward the spirit and proportions of Canterbury Cathedral's central Bell Harry Tower, a Norman structure rebuilt in the 14th century to a design by John Wastell (best known as the architect of King's College Chapel in Cambridge).

[2] A Dutch bellfoundry, Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry[8] designed, fabricated and installed the full carillon.

In May 1979 the carillon was dedicated in two recitals by Milford Myhre, carillonneur of the Bok Singing Tower, Lake Wales FL, who had served as consultant for the instrument.

[4] In 2002 a major gift from the estate of Larry Allen Webb of St. Augustine, Florida, (a distant relative of President Dwight D. Eisenhower) made possible the addition of twelve trebles for a total of 61 bells, with complete revision of the carillon playing action and provision of an identical studio practice clavier in the adjacent University Auditorium, including sound samples from ten major carillons throughout the world.