Submitted by Lisabeth Tunell

On November 4, George Chapman, Raleigh's former planning director, persuaded Mayor Charles Meeker to proclaim the next 12 months as the "Year of Compiegne in Raleigh." Why you may ask, which is what I asked since Raleigh (I thought) has no close ties with France!

Read On:

I ran in the "City of Oaks" marathon this past November and the route took us right by the N.C. State's Bell Tower. As many times as I have driven by N.C. State and the tower I never knew what the history behind it was or why  Raleigh was called "The City of Oaks" until I read Ruth Sheehan's column. The Bell Tower is a landmark built to honor the university's students and faculty who served and died in World War I and the start of construction was in 1919 but due to budget problems and the Great Depression, was not completed until 1949. A block or two from N.C. State's Bell Tower on Hillsborough Street  there is a little patch of green behind the Bruegger's bagel shop, on Logan and there is actually a city park named for Compiegne, France. Raleigh, designated 20 years ago, became the sister city of Compiegne.

Ninety years ago in Compiegne, France at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918, the signing of the Armistice, signaling the end of World War I. It was signed with representatives of the German, British and French forces present.

Both the Bell Tower and Compiegne Park are in need of repairs and N.C. State officials announced forthcoming refurbishments to the tower and thanks to George and Gretchen Chapman so is the Park.

The Bell Tower, Chapman noted. overlooks the campus's only roundabout, a traffic device that has been hotly contested for use on Hillsborough Street recently. In Compiegne, there's a single landmark named for its sister of Raleigh.....It's a roundabout!

We all learn something new everyday about the city in which we live!