OT: the history of the Burton Memorial Tower
February 26th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
Michigan's first AD, in fact maybe the greatest AD of all time and also perhaps the first AD in the nation, donated the money to build it because he felt bad leaving the job to take over his in-laws' banking empire in K.C.
February 26th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
I was not quite college aged yet, but I remember this as well because we had a neighbor that worked for the Observer & Eccentric, one of the papers owned by Phil Power's company at the time (Suburban Communications Corporation, I think - I remember it was in Livonia). They heard about it fairly quickly as well.
February 26th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
one of my housemates was walking to the MLB. He thought someone had been shot.
February 26th, 2017 at 9:33 AM ^
One of those iconic landmarks that always just "was" - never really thought anything about it or its history until reading that article.
February 26th, 2017 at 9:50 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:01 AM ^
This is really interseting. I had a lot of professors who had their offices in Burton Tower, but I only ever actually went in there once while I was at UM.
February 26th, 2017 at 11:07 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^
I too recall Regent Power jumping off the tower in 1987 during my sophomore year. I had a class the hour before at MLB, and walked by again later in the day after I heard the news. There were a number or memorial tributes at the site, but not much more than that was said.
February 26th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
I remember my first big erection on campus...
February 26th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
"but not its best big erection..."
That distinction goes at David Terrell, at least according to him.
February 26th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
Who's got the B.A.D.?
February 26th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^
and I was in the MLB at the time she jumped. By the time class let out the only telltale sign anything happened was a bunch of sand and a few flowers. It was pretty sad. FWIW, I believe the Power Center is named for Sarah Power's dad (someone can correct me if I'm wrong.) The family had strong ties to the University and as mentioned elsewhere, she was a Regent at the time she jumped.
As for the tower itself, I had a class in there and remember being surprised at the size of the room as it was larger than I anticipated.
February 26th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^
Her husband, Phil, was the son of the Power Center people, and ended up taking her seat as a regent for over a decade.
February 26th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:32 AM ^
My grandfather was the men's counselor at the University Health Service during the 30s, 40s and 50s. He was essentially the school psychologist and dealt with many troubled students. On at least one occasion, he was called to the tower to dissuade a student from jumping. Apparently he succeeded, though he was very reluctant to discuss specifics from his job to preserve confidentiality.
February 26th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
This article is somewhat confusing since there are no image captions, but the image file description is that this was Kahn's first design concept:
February 26th, 2017 at 11:35 PM ^
February 26th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
Thanks for sharing this! I did not know Kahn designed it. That man was prolific.
February 26th, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^
I remember going with my parents as a kid to buy tickets for UMS events in the small ticket office inside the tower. Also remember having a class in the MLB right next to the tower during that met right when the carillon concert took place on Fridays. Couldn't hear a damn thing for a full half hour.
There's a weird legend that goes around MMB circles, which no one seems to be able to 100% confirm, that there were plans to build the Music School right behind Hill where the MLB eventually went, but it was taken to North Campus instead because of some weird deal involving William D. Revelli and some land he had shrewdly purchased. The idea was to have a sort of music empire with Hill, Burton, and the proposed building.
February 27th, 2017 at 1:34 AM ^
In the early 90's I was taken on a tour of the actual Carillon (the top floor). I was surprised that the GM Headquarters, the spires of the Bridge to Canada, and 2 or 3 other tall buildings were clearly visable from up there.