Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Provost Dr. Ronald Hawkins, Senior Vice President for Construction Planning Charles Spence, School of Divinity Dean Dr. Ed Hindson, and Bobby Moon, president of Construction Management Associates, detonated the blast that broke ground on Freedom Tower.
Faculty, staff, and students from the School of Divinity joined members of Liberty University’s administration on Aug. 31 to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower.
Set to open in Spring 2017 and located near Reber-Thomas Dining Hall, the 275-foot-tall tower will be the tallest building in Lynchburg. The structure will also be the capstone and focal point of Liberty’s half-billion-dollar campus makeover.
“In the future, when you think about Liberty’s campus, this tower will be the focal point,” said President Jerry Falwell, noting that it will be a landmark similar to the Rotunda at the University of Virginia or the Duke Chapel at Duke University.
The bottom three levels of the 17-story tower will house Liberty’s School of Divinity, the largest center for religious studies and ministerial training in the country. The upper stories will be used as classrooms and as meeting and special event spaces. The 15th story will include observation areas with panoramic views of campus and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Falwell called the groundbreaking ceremony the university’s first “groundblasting.” An oversized model of a detonator on the stage was used to set off a small dynamite blast several yards away.
Dr. Ed Hindson, dean of the School of Divinity, said that the name Freedom Tower is appropriate because of what Liberty represents.
The Freedom Tower is scheduled to open Spring 2017.
“We stand for the freedom of the power of the Gospel. The power that will set you free from bondage to sin, to indifference, to an attitude of disappointment, frustration, and all of the problems that human beings face in life. These problems are set free by the power of salvation through the person of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Freedom is a message of truth that transforms an individual, not only forgiving our sin, but changing us from within and making us
new creations.”
- View a video from the ceremony at www.Liberty.edu/News/FreedomTower.
Liberty Bell to be placed atop tower
At the groundbreaking ceremony, President Jerry Falwell announced that Liberty’s replica of the Liberty Bell will be placed among a 25-bell assembly at the top of Freedom Tower. The bell, unveiled in 1976 in recognition of America’s bicentennial and the renaming of Lynchburg Baptist College to Liberty Baptist College, is currently located across from DeMoss Hall.
The bell assembly, which will be cast and tuned at Royal Dutch Bell Founder in Aarle-Rixtel, Holland, will be capable of playing a number of songs and will be visible to onlookers below.
After being cast, the bells will be shipped to the U.S., where they will be installed by The Verdin Company, the world’s largest bell supplier. The family-owned business has provided bells for more than 50,000 churches, colleges, and shopping centers.
Interested donors will be able to have their names engraved on the bells. For more information about pricing and naming opportunities, call the Development Office at (866) 602-7983.
