The Poughkeepsie Tower Clock, Michael D. Gotdon

THE POUGHKEEPSIE TOWER CLOCK by Michael D. Gordon

ER BROTHERS

In 1858, when Poughkeepsie was surrounded by rolling farmland and the sound of a church bell could be heard for more than a few miles, an important landmark was erected at the southwest corner of Main and Little Washington Streets; the New First Reformed Church was dedicated on September 7th, replacing the old church which was destroyed by fire on January 18, 1857. The new church was a magnificent edifice with a 65 foot tower that contained a four faced clock. Its 6 foot dial, which could be seen from practically anywhere in the city, and the sound of its huge bell quickly became the talk of the entire area. The clock became known as the tower clock and later the town clock. The church became known as "the town clock" church. In October, 1913, the congregation of the First Reformed Church decided to join the congregation of the "Second Reformed Church" and moved in with them on Hooker Avenue. After the last service in the tower clock church on October 12, 1913, the clock was given into the care of the Poughkeepsie Common Council. The Common Council maintained the clock and passed a resolution declaring it the official city clock. The empty church stood until late in 1919 when it was torn down to make way for the construction of the Strand Building. In early 1921, the clock was relocated into the tower of the Strand on the same site at Main and Little Washington Streets. In 1924, the city contracted with Zimmer Brothers to take care of the winding and servicing of the huge clock. This arrangement worked very well and three generations of

Zimmers made the weekly trek up the tower to wind the weights that drove the heavy gears. When the church was torn down, the huge 4000 pound bell was removed. The bell, cast in Sheffield, England just prior to its installation in 1858, was not reunited with the clock in the Strand Building. In the late 1950's, the city lost interest in maintaining the clock. The Colonial Theatre people erected a huge steel and neon sign up the east side of the tower, covering the east face of the clock, cutting two of the Roman numerals off and using the clock's steel frame as a support for the sign. Early in 1972, as the Strand Building was being demolished, the old clock got a reprieve--Poughkeepsie Jeweler, Leonard Zimmer, Jr., grandson of the first Zimmer to wind the clock, climbed up the tower, along with his son-in-law (the author), and saved the undamaged faces of the clock. It was an eleventh hour rescue, the kind you see in the movies, with the wreckers' shovel bucket taking bites out of the southeast end of the building and that old tower swaying and groaning with each bite. A wet mixture of snow and rain was falling and made the task a bit more difficult. The most well preserved of the faces was painstakingly restored by hand by Mr. Zimmer himself. New hands were cut from cedar to the exact measurements of the weather-ravaged originals. A pattern of the clock was made on paper and new panels, cut from a frosty lucite, were cut and fitted to replace the opaque glass. The new electric movement was custom made by a Massachusetts firm and fitted into the building wall. The colors are the original ones, gold and black. On August 24, 1973, the Poughkeepsie tower clock was installed on the face of the newly enlarged and remodeled Zimmer Brothers Building on the Main Mall. The huge movement of the clock was removed from the tower by a local resident and is actually assembled and working, minus the faces, hands, and bell. Its huge size makes it rather impractical to install in anything but a tower. On September 5, 1973, the Poughkeepsie Common Council unanimously resolved--"that the restored 'Poughkeepsie Tower Clock' now situated on the face of the Zimmer Building overlooking the Main Mall be, and it hereby is, designated the 'official clock' of the City of Poughkeepsie." Zimmer Brothers maintains the clock and its lights. The interest in the clock on the part of Poughkeepsie residents, past and present, was tremendous. When word of its restoration was carried by the Poughkeepsie Journal, Zimmer Brothers was deluged with phone calls and letters of reminiscence from people who remembered this grand old clock, each from a different angle and direction as they grew up. On November 15, 1973, Zimmer Brothers issued a bronze coin, depicting the Poughkeepsie Tower Clock, in honor of the clock's 115 years in Poughkeepsie and Zimmer Brothers 80th; 10,000 in bronze and 50 in silver were struck. The bronze coins were given to the public at the grand opening of Zimmer's new store. Because of a lack of any earlier history, we must assume the clock was purchased by or for the church in 1858. But was it new then--or did it once grace the tower of another, even earlier church?