
Colgate Clock, Jeffersonville, IN
Posted by:
LSUMonica
N 38° 16.471 W 085° 45.188
16S E 609064 N 4237009
Quick Description: Massive clock located on top of the Colgate Plant in Clarksville, Indiana. The Colgate Clock is the second largest timepiece in the world, exceeding London's Big Ben.
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 2/24/2006 8:19:10 AM
Waymark Code: WM7ZJ
Views: 177
Long Description:
Colgate Clock
State State and Woerner Ave • Jeffersonville,
Indiana
The octagonal clock was designed by Colgate engineer Warren Day
and built by the Seth Thomas Company for the centennial of the
Colgate Company in 1906. The clock, thirty-eight feet in diameter,
was made of structural steel and its face of stainless steel slats.
It was part of a sign set on the roof of an eight-story warehouse
at the southeast corner of York and Hudson Streets in Jersey City,
NJ which was also built for the anniversary. Engineer William P.
Field designed the sign reading "COLGATE'S SOAPS AND PERFUMES" in
20-foot-high letters. The 200-foot-long, 40-foot-high sign was
illuminated at night by 1,607 bulbs and was visible from 20 miles
away from the Jersey City waterfront to Staten Island and the
Bronx. It received acclaim as an identifying symbol of the company
along with its practicality. When removed for a new larger clock in
1924, it was retired to Jeffersonville, Indiana.
The Colgate-Palmolive plant in Jeffersonville, IN, is located in
the old Indiana Reformatory for Men. Constructed in the late 19th
century, this Romanesque structure was sold to
Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company in 1923. Reopened the following year
as a soap factory, the facility is now Southern Indiana's oldest
civilian employer, producing a broad range of soaps, detergents,
and personal care products.
This Colgate Clock is the second largest timepiece in the world,
exceeding London's Big Ben. Measuring 40 feet in diameter with
hands of 16 and 20 1/2 feet respectively, the Colgate Clock has
been a major Southern Indiana landmark for nearly seven
decades.
A scene from the movie The Insider was filmed at the location of
this waymark. The scene is where Jeffery Wigand (Russell Crowe)
meets with 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) to talk
about an interview that he was going to do for 60 minutes. Several
scenes were filmed out front of the Colgate Building as well as
along the Ohio River and in the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville