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Mississippi College Clock Tower Damaged Due to Lighting Strike


Mississippi College’s iconic Clock Tower atop Nelson Hall was damaged due to a lightning strike Thursday night on the Clinton campus.

Mississippi College’s iconic Clock Tower atop Nelson Hall was damaged due to a lightning strike Thursday night on the Clinton campus.

Built in 1947, the clock’s time was frozen at 9:15 p.m. when powerful thunderstorms slammed into Central Mississippi. Bricks were knocked out at the Nelson Hall landmark standing 30-feet tall on the roof of the university’s three-story administration building.

Some officials compared the lightning strike impacting Mississippi College to one of the famous scenes in the hit movie “Back to the Future” in 1985. The film starred actor Michael J. Fox playing the unforgettable role of Marty McFly who traveled back in time.

When lightning struck the MC clock tower, 600 Super Summer campers from Baptist churches statewide were engaged in lively worship services in Swor Auditorium on the building’s first floor. Power was temporarily knocked out and that immediately silenced a Christian band on stage. But the teen-age campers kept singing “How Great Thou Art” and other church hymns as the storms raged on.

Power was later restored at Nelson Hall and a couple of other nearby buildings. There were no injuries on the Clinton campus. Friday closes out week-long Super Summer camps for 1,387 teens from churches as far north as Hernando and as far south as the Gulf Coast.

Despite the weather issues, hundreds of Super Summer campers were delighted with their enriching Christian leadership experience combined with fun at MC.

“You can feel God and see Him working in people,” says camper Christian Shannon, 19, of Ocean Springs. An incoming University of Southern Mississippi freshman, Shannon served as the camp’s Gold School King. Christian joined new friends for a blitz of photos at Nelson Hall before boarding vans and buses to return home Friday.

MC administrator Steve Stanford used his phone camera Friday morning to capture stunning pictures of the damage to the clock tower at America’s second oldest Baptist college.

He and staff colleagues quickly began a damage assessment. Several MC employees remained on site as late as 1 a.m.

“There was damage to the tower’s brick structure and several of its cap stones,” says Stanford, vice president for administration and government relations. “One of (them) fell and penetrated into the building’s roof. It damaged the clock components and speakers located inside the tower that supports the campus’ carillon.”

It’s too early to estimate the damage. “Assessments are being made and work will be scheduled to repair all damage as quickly as possible,” Stanford said.

Storms pelting the Magnolia State on July 14 caused power outages for thousands of utility customers in the Jackson area. People losing power at home included Clinton resident Ken Gilliam. He serves as the MC continuing education director who oversees church and sports camps on the Clinton campus.

Working in his air-conditioned Nelson Hall office Friday morning, Gilliam was happy to report no injuries to any of the campers, parents or staff. Nearing their 30th year at MC, Super Summer Camps are sponsored by the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

Super Summer camps went on a little longer Friday to accommodate hundreds of teens missing on the second worship service Thursday night, Gilliam said.

Mississippi College hosts over 6,000 campers from 14 states in June and July.