The Sweeney Clock is located in a small triangular park area formed by Rusk, Capitol, and Bagby streets near the Hobby Center in downtown Houston.
The sign at the clock reads as follows:
"SWEENEY CLOCK
Once gracing the northeast corner of Main Street and Prairie, the Sweeney Clock was for decades the authoritive timekeeper for downtown Houstonians. Purchased from the Boston maker, E. Howard & Co., the clock stood in front of the J.J. Sweeney & Co. Jewelry Store from 1908-1928, where it was also used as a hitching post for horse-drawn carriages.
Donated by the store to the City of Houston in 1929, the clock was moved to the downtown Farmers Market and later to the courtyard of a municipal building near the Jefferson Davis Hospital.
By 1968, the clock had deteriorated badly. It was restored and moved to its present location, the Sweeney Triangle, in 1971, with funds provided by the Colonial Dames of America. A base for the 15-foot timepiece was made using paving bricks from historic Navigation Street.
Today the Sweeney Clock is maintained and preserved by the City of Houston Civic Center Department.
Civic Center Department
Gerald J. Tollett, Director"
From the City of Houston: (
visit link)
The Sweeney Clock stands in a traffic island in the busy downtown neighborhood where the City Hall complex and the Theater District connect, across the street from Tranquillity Park, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, and Bayou Place (formerly, the Albert Thomas Convention Hall).
The clock was originally purchased from E.A. Howard of Boston and placed in front of the J.J. Sweeney & Co. jewelry store at Main & Prairie, where it stood from 1908 to 1928. When the store moved, the clock was relocated to the downtown Farmer’s Market in 1929. It eventually went into storage and was in danger of being sold as surplus city property in 1961. Council Member Lee McLemore saved it and had it installed in its current location in 1968. It was restored by the Colonial Dames of America for $2,000.
A base for the clock has been built using 11,000 historic bricks once used to pave Navigation Street. Due to the deterioration of its wooden parts, further refurbishment of the clock was undertaken by Metal Arts in 2002, with restoration costs of $29,200."