Every week-day for fifty years, chapel has been an intrinsic part of Florida College. It has been held in Donoho Library, in the Temple Terrace City Building, the second floor of Dicus Hall and even down by the riverbank under “lofty pines and oaks silhouetted against God’s blue sky with the river sparkling in the sun.”
Every school day, the family meets to worship to encourage one another to live a holy life, to learn from His Word, to know and rejoice over academic or athletic achievements and to pledge allegiance to our country.
In September, 1960, chapel was moved to its present location, Hutchinson Auditorium. The Bell was added in the early seventies, having been obtained by President Jim Cope from the recently dismantled Big Spring church building near Sparta, Tennessee. Fittingly, as a boy, President Cope had rung this Bell to call the local saints to worship.
Originally the Bell tolled at F.C. only twice a year, at the beginning and ending of the school year. Then, in 1981, at the suggestion of Margie Garrett, the Bell began to be rung daily to call the college family to chapel.