This very ornate town clock in Memorial Park Dekalb IL. It has a blue base trimmed in gold with plaques on each of the 4 sides. The four faced clock has a white face and roman numerals, along with a spear and a shield in each corner. The clocks were made by E. Howard and Company Boston MA. The 100th anniversary of its dedication was in 2021.
"The historic clock, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of its dedication this year, is covered in a white tarp and is surrounded by scaffolding. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Clock sits at the intersection of First Street and Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb.
“The clock is historically significant, and it is a memorial in a prominent downtown DeKalb location,” DeKalb Rotary Club President Brian Corr said. “It is in Memorial Park, where gatherings and protests are held. It truly is a symbol of the city of DeKalb. It’s even used in the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s logo.”
The clock has had four locations, was struck by lightning twice and has been hit by a truck and a car. Although the clock was structurally sound, its mechanisms were not working. It needed mechanical repairs and historic restoration.
Corr said that completing community service projects is a mission of the DeKalb Rotary Club.
“We’re preparing for our second 100 years of helping the community with service projects,” he said. “We plan to continue to be a service to DeKalb County and to the world.”
Since last winter, the DeKalb Rotary Club has been fundraising to restore the clock. The cost of fixing the clock’s interior mechanisms is about $7,000 and painting and restoring the exterior of the clock will cost between $15,000 and $16,000.
[ Photos: Century old Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Clock getting facelift ]
Keys, who is restoring the clock with his historic restoration business RW Keys and Son, said the paint for the clock costs about $2,000.
“The dark forest green of the clock is what some like to consider ‘car colors,’ not automobile colors, but railroad cars,” he said. “Rich colors like reds, greens and browns were used on railroad cars, monuments and clocks.”
Keys will use automotive paint on the clock to help the color remain vibrant through the years and not fade.
“The clock’s history
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Clock was built in 1920 by E. Howard & Company of Boston. The clock is 19 feet high, weighs 4,000 pounds and has four faces. The base, column, shaft, neck and clock face cradle are all made of cast iron. The clock face assembly and hood assembly are made of sheet metal with a wood subframe. The decorative scrolls at the neck, the spear tips and shields are all cast in bronze.
The large base of the memorial clock was made to hold two plaques listing all the names of the men from DeKalb County who died in World War I, but the plaques were never completed or put in place.
Keys describes the clock as “one of a kind.”
“The clock was custom designed for DeKalb. It was not a model that you [could] order,” he said. “It is a very rare clock, the type you’d see in a museum. To have one here in town, and to have it in working condition and restored, is very rare and very special.”
Original efforts to raise money to buy the memorial clock were made by the DeKalb County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Relief Society in late 1919. In January 1920, the society abandoned its name and started fundraising as The Memorial Clock Committee. The committee was able to reach its goal with the help of the city of DeKalb donating the remainder of the money required to buy the clock.
The clock’s dedication was Feb. 13, 1921, at the First Methodist Church in DeKalb. Several hundred people crowded into the church with about 500 turned away due to lack of space. After a patriotic address by guest speaker Harry F. Atwood, author and former U.S. district attorney from Chicago, the ceremony was moved to the intersection of Third Street and Lincoln Highway for the clock’s official unveiling. The clock was presented to DeKalb American Legion Post 66.
In late 1921, the American Legion turned the clock’s ownership and care over to the city of DeKalb. Wesley Concidine, who was a sergeant in the DeKalb Police Department for many years, was named official custodian of the clock. Concidine worked for two days to repair the clock after it was struck by a tea company truck. He maintained the clock until his death in 1945.
On May 28, 1929, 5-year-old Margaret Benson was riding home from school in a neighbor’s car when it was hit by a second car. The car smashed into the clock, and Benson received a skull fracture, a deep gash on the forehead, another cut on the side of her head and a cut wrist, hospitalizing her for two weeks. It was reported that after receiving the news of her daughter’s accident, her mother had a nervous breakdown and also had to be hospitalized.
The day after the accident involving Margaret Benson, the DeKalb City Council made a decision to move the clock immediately. The clock was moved about a half block west on Lincoln Highway and placed on the sidewalk in front of 237 E. Lincoln Highway. The clock remained there until 1974, when it was moved a few yards farther west, between 251 and 255 E. Lincoln Highway, to make room for new streetlights. The clock stood at that location until June 28, 1996, when it was taken apart and moved so that the restoration and moving of the clock could begin... " (
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