Tower Clock - Cortland, NY

[rjdj2000]

Hello all,

Have been looking through all the different tower clocks on here and I remembered the one that used to be at Main St. & Tompkins St. here in my hometown of Cortland, NY. The clock tower was there for as long as I can remember until the fateful day on April 11, 2006 when there was a massive fire and the building was destroyed. Fire fighters recovered the metal dial from the clock and somehow the clock components were recovered as well. After a rebuild it is now in the CNY Living History Museum. The only picture that I have, at the moment, shows it up on the upper level in the museum. The other 2 pictures are near the restored clock.

I have always wanted to go see the clock, as my father told me when I was a kid that he used to climb the stairs to get to the clock and wind it up. In which, being a avid clock nut, I thought was pretty neat that he did that and I've always wanted to see the clock movement that was up there. So hopefully tomorrow is that day where I go to see this movement and try to get some more history on it to provide to NAWCC.

Day of the fire


Firefighters rescuing the clock dial


The new home in the CNY Living History Museum


I was hoping that they had pictures of the movement online but I have not found any. Once I go there I will take lots of pictures and get any info I can on the clock itself.

Jeff

 

[rjdj2000]

Just doing a quick search online I came up with this:


The original Squires or Clock Tower Building (above), at Tompkins and Main Street in Cortland, was built on the remnants of the Eagle Store which was established by Roswell Randall in the 1820s. James S. Squires, an entrepreneur and self-taught man from the nearby town of Lapeer, purchased the site and in 1883, erected the building, which would be his enduring legacy. The magnificent structure cost $40,000. It housed seven stores, eight offices, and 10 flats. The new building embraced the remains of the old Eagle Store. The truly distinguishing feature of the building was the illuminated turret clock. For 130 years, this building stood as a testament to the vision, work ethic, and civic engagement of its builder, James S. Squires.

A fire destroyed the Clock Tower Building in 2006, but the iconic clock was saved. It was restored and is currently on exhibit at the Central New York Living History Center. A new building (below) replaced the Squires building and stayed close to the design of the original. It also has a clock tower, and it complements the Cortland Standard block on the opposite side of Tompkins Street. The two buildings form a gateway to the historic homes on Tompkins.

Original building c. 1900


New Building

 

[rjdj2000]

Well today was the day that I went and visited the museum where the clock that was in the Squires building.

It happens to be a E. Howard Clock Co. Model #1 with Illumination Regulator. It was installed in the tower in December 1883 and had kept time there until 2006 when the fire occurred. At that time, firefighters salvaged the dial and found all of the clocks components. (Pictures below) They were stored by the city and in 2009 the restoration began on the clock. Sorry in advance is if some of the pictures of the text is not seen well. I tried to get all the information that was shown on the display beside the clock. The local NAWCC Chapter President, Chadd Sopp from Timesmith Antiques knows a lot about this clock from what I was told. I do not know if Chadd frequents the forum here or not but I will try to reach out to him on the clock and if he is on here, I will have him tell more on it. I did a quick search on the records that are in the Smithsonian but haven't quite tracked this one down in those records, yet.

Newspaper clip of the installation back in 1883





Pictures of the recovery of the dial & clock components


Restoration in 2009




The business end as it sits now in the CNY Living History Museum

 

[Jim DuBois]

Thanks for all the photos and details you have provided for us here. Great work on your part!

 

[rjdj2000]

Thanks for all the photos and details you have provided for us here. Great work on your part!

You are welcome. Hopefully the people who restored this, I believe are members, are on the forums here and can add any additional details or corrections. I’d like to make a 1/2 or 1/4 scale replica of this someday. Lol

 

[Jim DuBois]

Here is a 1/2 sized model of a Howard 00 I made a while back

 

[rjdj2000]

Here is a 1/2 sized model of a Howard 00 I made a while back

Now that is neat. Nice little piece you have there. Chad Sopp is the person who handles the quarterly maintenance and general repairs on it, he is the local Chapter 55 President here. I might be able to talk to him and the other gentleman who worked on restoring the movement on scaling it down. Unless I can find drawings of it and be able to figure out scaling it down.

 

[G. Russell Oechsle]

Hello all,

Have been looking through all the different tower clocks on here and I remembered the one that used to be at Main St. & Tompkins St. here in my hometown of Cortland, NY. The clock tower was there for as long as I can remember until the fateful day on April 11, 2006 when there was a massive fire and the building was destroyed. Fire fighters recovered the metal dial from the clock and somehow the clock components were recovered as well. After a rebuild it is now in the CNY Living History Museum. The only picture that I have, at the moment, shows it up on the upper level in the museum. The other 2 pictures are near the restored clock.

I have always wanted to go see the clock, as my father told me when I was a kid that he used to climb the stairs to get to the clock and wind it up. In which, being a avid clock nut, I thought was pretty neat that he did that and I've always wanted to see the clock movement that was up there. So hopefully tomorrow is that day where I go to see this movement and try to get some more history on it to provide to NAWCC.

Day of the fire
View attachment 735770

Firefighters rescuing the clock dial
View attachment 735771

The new home in the CNY Living History Museum
View attachment 735772

I was hoping that they had pictures of the movement online but I have not found any. Once I go there I will take lots of pictures and get any info I can on the clock itself.

Jeff

Jeff: Glad you were able to visit the restored clock! It was a great community effort to restore it. As one of the two "coordinators" of the effort, I can provide pictures and further information if you wish. Regards, Russ Oechsle

 

[Bernhard J.]

Jeff: .... I can provide pictures and further information if you wish. Regards, Russ Oechsle

Although I am not Jeff, I would love to see more pictures.

Best regards, Bernhard

 

[rjdj2000]

Jeff: Glad you were able to visit the restored clock! It was a great community effort to restore it. As one of the two "coordinators" of the effort, I can provide pictures and further information if you wish. Regards, Russ Oechsle

Russ,

Please do. As I said above, my dad told me when I was younger that he once wound the clock. I am still on the hunt for any records that would prove that. I also saw another tower clock on the lower level that the one guy told me was supposed to go on the Fireman's Hall next door but due to height restrictions they could not do it. I had reached out to Chad, who takes care of this one now, to get any information about that one as well. I may have to try to reach out to Bud Ames to see if he would know of any information on who used to wind the clock. I look forward to your additional information.

Jeff

 

[G. Russell Oechsle]

Although I am not Jeff, I would love to see more pictures.

Best regards, Bernhard

Bernhard: Jeff did a good job of photographing the finished restoration at the CNY Living History Center. I will attach a few pre-restoration and restoration pics. Russ

 

[G. Russell Oechsle]

Russ,

Please do. As I said above, my dad told me when I was younger that he once wound the clock. I am still on the hunt for any records that would prove that. I also saw another tower clock on the lower level that the one guy told me was supposed to go on the Fireman's Hall next door but due to height restrictions they could not do it. I had reached out to Chad, who takes care of this one now, to get any information about that one as well. I may have to try to reach out to Bud Ames to see if he would know of any information on who used to wind the clock. I look forward to your additional information.

Jeff

Jeff: Yes, Bud would be the one to know who might have participated in the clock winding over the years. As for the history of the clock and the restoration, I prepared an article for the C134 newsletter/journal years back but there was a logistical problem and it was not published. I will resurrect it and include it in the upcoming Public Time (journal of the Tower & Street Clock Chapter) edition. Drop me a note at [email protected] and you are welcome to drop over to visit in Homer! Russ