When the New Mexico History Museum recently acquired one of the ship’s bells from the USS New Mexico battleship, we wrote a blog post that raised a question about where its other bell was. Somewhere on the University of New Mexico campus, we’d heard. But, being so very, very far away, we knew not where. So we asked our readers for help.
Good thing.
Dick Brown, chairman of the USS New Mexico Committee, a group that helps the crew aboard the current nuclear submarine feel a tie to their namesake state, came to our rescue.
“The second belli s hiding in plain sight,” he wrote, “on the mall, between the Student Union Building and Zimmerman Library.”
Here’s a ca. 1980s shot of it, courtesy of the Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico:
The tower was designed by Albuquerque architect max Flatow and completed in 1964, leaving us few excuses for how we’d managed to never notice it before. Regardless, we’re always delighted when a mystery is solved and proud to share yet another tie to a fellow research institution.
Thanks, Dick.