Beale Memorial Clock Tower
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 35° 23.586 W 119° 01.148
11S E 316623 N 3918509
This historical interpretive sign is in front of the Beale Memorial Clock Tower at the entrance to the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield.
Waymark Code: WMJDN9
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 11/04/2013
Views: 5
Beale Memorial Clock Tower
The Beale Memorial Clock Tower was a gift to the City of Bakersfield from Truxtun Beale in memory of his mother, Mary Edwards Beale.
Dedicated on April 2, 1904, the clock tower originally stood in the intersection of Chester Avenue and 17th Street in downtown Bakersfield.
In the summer of 1952, a series of earthquakes shook Kern County causing extensive damage to the clock tower. The clock tower was demolished in the quake’s aftermath. Only the original clock works, bell, iron stairway, balcony railings and arch grillwork were saved.
In 1961, a group of local citizens formed the Beale Memorial Clock Tower Restoration Committee to build a replica of the clock tower. The original pieces of the clock tower were incorporated into the rising masonry. The reconstructed clock tower was dedicated at the Kern County Museum on December 13, 1964.