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Before a crowd of about 300 WC students, faculty and staff and members of the community, officials from Weatherford College unveiled a new college "brand" Thursday.
WC President Kevin Eaton, center, and Board of Trustees members Elaine Carter, far left, and Jean Bryan
WC President Kevin Eaton, center, and Board of Trustees members Elaine Carter, far left, and Jean Bryan, center, unveil the new Weatherford College "brand." Brent Baker in foreground.

The new brand consists of a representation of the Old Main Bell and the year that the College was established, 1869.

The unveiling took place in front of the Old Main Bell, preserved from the Old Main building on South Main St. when the College was moved to its present location in the late 1960s. New WC president Dr. Kevin Eaton and board members Jean Bryan and Elaine Carter unveiled four large logos, which stood on easels in front of the historic bell.

"You may have walked past this bell a thousand times, but I encourage you to spend some time looking at the plaques and the markers in this site - it's a great lesson in WC history," said Vice President of Institutional Advancement Brent Baker. "The bell takes center stage now in a fresh new place as part of our new brand."

The new WC in its various configurations
The new WC in its various configurations.
The new "brand" - or family of logos and symbols - to represent the College was developed over the last year with the assistance of Paige Hendricks Public Relations, and with public input through a number of student, employee and community focus groups and surveys.

"We're excited about what we've come up with - together," said Baker. "We knew the history of WC and the year of our beginning needed to be incorporated into our brand. The bell doesn't just symbolize this bell, or even the newer bell on the Memorial Plaza, but the ringing of WC throughout our 141-year history and the lives that were changed in those decades."

MORE ABOUT THE WC BELL: The bell was forged by the Henry McShane Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland in the year 1879, just 10 years after the establishment of Weatherford College in 1869. It hung from the belfry in what WC'ers affectionately call "Old Main," the former stone building that served as the campus on South Main Street. It rang to signify the beginning of curfew, and it was used in many other ways to communicate to students.

Students and employees crowded the main podium
Students and employees alike crowded the main podium, eager to hear their winning number called out to claim new I-Pods jump-drives, t-shirts and other items "branded" with the new Weatherford College logo.
At some point, the bell was taken down from its perch, and it sat silent. In the late 1960s, as the building was being demolished after the College moved here to its new home, workers discovered the bell enclosed in sheetrock, sitting in a corner in the old auditorium. The workers were amazed that it hadn't fallen through the ceiling into a lecture hall below, as the auditorium sat on the second floor.

The bell was saved, and it was placed in its present location on the Weatherford campus, along with a beautiful stone arch, which was the original entryway into the Old Main Campus.

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