Milwaukee Public Museum

by John B. Lundstrom and Herbert F. Smith

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is reprinted without illustrations from LORE magazine, a benefit of museum membership. ©1989 Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.

Before the turn of the century, the business districts of American cities were graced by the presence of numerous cast-iron "street" or " post" clocks placed on sidewalks in front of buildings. Smaller cousins to the "tower clocks" installed in turrets and steeples, the elegant street clocks, often 15 or more feet high, served primarily as the trademarks of fine jewelry stores. Downtown Milwaukee was no exception. By the 1920s street clocks nationwide had begun to disappear, as thoroughfares were rebuilt and buildings were modernized. Increasing traffic also proved hazardous to the tall and slender structures.

In Milwaukee a far greater danger to the survival of street clocks proved to be its eccentric "Boy Mayor," Sherburn M. Becker, elected in 1906. He considered them "sidewalk obstructions" which hindered fire fighters. Early one morning in 1907 after jewelers had failed to respond to his threats ordering their removable, Becker and a party of firemen started knocking down the clocks along Grand (now Wisconsin) Avenue. Many fine street clocks were lost. The legacy of Becker's thoughtless act endured long after he left office in 1908. It is recorded that the city attorney's office had to employ three new assistants to handle the many lawsuits brought against the city during Becker's short tenure.

By 1972 Milwaukee had only one operating street clock. The property of Eldred Jensen of Jensen Jewelry, it had stood for 61 years in front of his shop on 16th and West Washington Streets. The Jensen clock was a Number 4 Post Clock manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company in Thomaston, Connecticut. In 1908, a year after Becker's rampage, it was first installed a half block away from 16th and Washington, but three years later was moved to that location. Over the years the clock grew to be quite a local landmark. One particular admirer was Edward Green, then Art Director of the Milwaukee Public Museum, who used to pass the clock on his way to and from work. One day in the late 1960s he discovered it lying in the street, knocked over by a truck which backed into it. In a few days the clock was back in operation. Green wrote to Jensen to compliment him on its swift repair.

Remembering Green's letter, Jensen thought of the museum when in 1972 upon his retirement it became necessary to dispose of the street clock. Although private collectors had expressed considerable interest in the clock, he offered it to the museum in order to see it preserved in Milwaukee. Thomas J. Bliffert, president of the Granville Lumber & Fuel Company (now Bliffert Lumber & Fuel Company) graciously donated the funds to purchase the clock and to have it moved to the museum. That summer it was reassembled and erected near the museum's front entrance. There on October 4, 1972 it was ceremoniously dedicated as the city's last surviving street clock. A bronze plaque was affixed to attest to that fact and to acknowledge Tom Bliffert's kind donation. The Landmarks Commission of the City of Milwaukee designated the clock as a Milwaukee landmark.

For 12 years the museum's Seth Thomas continued to brave hot summers and cold winters. By 1984 it became apparent that the clock required a complete refurbishing. That fall under the supervision of history curator Donald Hoke and conservator James Burnham, the clock was dismantled and disassembled. New dial lenses and their wooded framework were fabricated, but beyond that the job of restoration proved far more complicated and time consuming than first thought. Until expert assistance could be obtained, the clock remained in storage. After Dr. Hoke left the staff, I became curator of Americana and took charge of the clock. In 1988 its restoration was given high priority. Very fortunately the museum learned of Herbert Smith's expertise in clock restoration, and volunteered to take on the task. Here follows his narrative of the project.

In May 1988 I was approached on behalf of the history section by my friend Marvin Rosenau, head carpenter at the museum. He asked if I might like to help restore the street clock. I have a great interest in tower and street clocks and have repaired a number of them. I envisioned working mainly on this clock's mechanism: cleaning, reworking, repairing, adjusting, and lubricating it. I had no idea that the rest of the clock would comprise the biggest part of the restoration.

When I first saw the disassembled clock in storage, I examined and photographed the works and decided I could do the job. It was an eight-day movement driven by a large weight and regulated by a pendulum. Setting the correct time was accomplished on a small pilot dial contained inside the frame- work, which like the case was of cast-iron. The two main dials were 41 inches in diameter, and the clock when fully assembled was 16 feet in height.

All of the clock parts were then moved to Steve Sanfilippo's paint shop, located on the museum's ground floor. The clock's movement was relatively clean, and my first task was to completely disassemble the works, while carefully marking the position of all of the components. Unfortunately, some time ago the pendulum had become separated from the rest of the parts, and searches of the storage areas were unsuccessful. Steve undertook a great deal of the restoration work, including the cleaning, preparation, and refinishing of all of the major components. After researching the proper exterior finish, a particular shade of green was chosen to match the original, and acrylic paint was applied to protect the exposed surfaces. Steve refinished and flawlessly repainted the mechanism's cast-iron frame in green and black.

Reassembly of the movement was begun. There proved to be excessive wear in the escape wheel verge assembly. In his well equipped home shop, Sid Williams of Cedarburg assisted in repivoting and rebushing as necessary. The old wire rope used to transfer power from the gravity weight to the drive drum was mangled and needed replacement. Bernard Weber, a history section volunteer, contacted MacWhyte Wire Rope of Kenosha, which generously donated the necessary length of rope. Harbor Marine applied a retention nipple to one end of the rope, and it was installed on the drum. Bern Weber also supplied some hard-to-find screws for the clock.

In June, Steve Sanfilippo, Ed Green, Richard Dermody, and I visited the Sheboygan County Historical Society, where a very similar Seth Thomas Number 4 Street Clock is operating. We examined and photographed this clock in detail. This aided in locating or duplicating, if necessary, the pendulum. It was also vital to study this clock's dials and numerals. Some time prior to its donation, the museum's street clock received another dial with incorrect and improperly sized numerals and minute ticks, and we wanted to reproduce the correct dials. On our return from Sheboygan, with the knowledge of exactly what to look for, the "lost" pendulum was found.

At about this time I discovered that old welding repairs to the cast-iron base assembly and face housing, done because of such calamities as the truck accident years ago, had not restored these components to their original size and dimensions. All of the major castings were out of alignment, and assembly of the panels and doors to the base, as well as reconstructing the seven components of the face housing, became a frustratingly slow excerise.

As the base assembly took shape, I was able to mount the clock mechanism for basic testing. The arrangement of the pulleys to carry the power to the drive drum, based on the Sheboygan clock, appeared questionable. Lloyd Larish of the House of Clock, Faribault, Minnesota, helped greatly by sending me photos of a similar clock in his neighborhood. Now I was really able to test the movement. It worked!

Experience seemed to show that it would be wise to erect the entire assembly on a trial basis inside the building, if at all possible. A room in one of the closed exhibit areas on the second floor was chosen. The components were moved up to the space, and assembly was accomplished. It proved to be well worth the time and effort. We discovered that because the components had been hand-fitted from the smallest screws to the largest bolts, there is really only one way to assemble this clock.

For example, the four cast iron decorative serrations which fit on the four sides of the upper base had to be attached by trial and error. Properly installing them required bolting one on, then matching the three remaining sides. This made 40 possible positions and took the better part of the day. Previous restorers had fudged the process by loading steel wool between the base and the decorative pieces to "absorb" the misalignments.

The two cast iron doors and their four hinges, which with two panels make up the base assembly, posed the same problem. In addition to matching the proper hinge with their doors, it was discovered that earlier welded repairs had altered the space where the doors had to be hung. Consequently, the doors would not close properly, affecting both appearance and sealing of the interior. I felt some metal might have to be removed to ensure a good weather-tight fit, but museum conservator Ronald Harvey did not agree. He felt, and rightly so, that ethically we had to maintain originality as much as possible. He solved the problem by suggesting use of the proper weather-stripping.

The painted inscriptions on the pilot dial, which is used for setting time and is only visible by opening one of the doors, had become illegible due to deterioration over the years. We removed and preserved the original dial, so that hopefully the obscured date of manufacture and serial number might be brought back. Roy Shoberg of Shoberg Machine gave me enough brass to make two replacement dials on one lathe. They were then silver-plated. Rick Regazzi, a museum artist, prepared a silk screen and perfectly duplicated the dials according to a sample sent to me by Lloyd Larish. In return I sent the extra one to Lloyd for his trouble.

It was time again to visit the clock at Sheboygan to examine the locking mechanism for the back door, which was missing from the museum's clock, lost probably during the 1960s repairs. I copied it, and the duplicate is now serving its purpose in the clock. In Sheboygan I also had the opportunity of talking with Rudy Grandlic of Grandlic Jewelers, who is the keeper of the historical society's clock. I still needed three gears, unfortunately missing from the museum's clock, in order to operate the pilot dial's hands. Lloyd Larish had sent me a set to examine and duplicate. Rudy was able to locate three gears that, with some mounting alterations, served as well. The modifications were accomplished by Ken Woods, clock and watch repair instructor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, and by Sid Williams.

Long ago during repair someone had used a jury-rigged replacement for an original holding assembly which attached the face assembly to the column. I did not care for the quality of the substitution, so I turned to the Milwaukee County Historical Society. They also have a Number 4 Street Clock, which unfortunately is missing its original movement, and remains disassembled. Through the kindness of William Frick and Robert Cassidy, the museum was able to loan the proper assembly. Another "original" was fabricated by Phil Peckham of Three Lakes, Wisconsin. His wife Jean took care of bringing back the original and the copy.

When the clock was donated to the museum, the circuitry for lighting it at night was largely missing, except for one porcelain socket. It was decided to restore this system as well. Richard Swainston, building manager, arranged to have a new concrete pad poured for the clock in front of the museum, one wired for electric power. Steve Sanfilippo located porcelain sockets identical to the surviving one, and I installed and wired them in place. Now the two dials are night lighted with the warm glow of six 25 watt bulbs. Illumination is controlled by a timer.

Members of the exhibition and graphics section produced two excellent replacement clock dials closely resembling the long- lost originals. After studying photographs, Earl A. Martyn, a retired artist and museum volunteer, did the actual layout of the numerals and minute markings. Rick Regazzi then silkscreened the design onto blank dials to milk-colored acrylic plastic. Marv Rosenau cut the two lenses which would protect the wooded bezels to hold them.

In November we made final plans for the installation of the clock. Everyone was anxious to see how the finished product would look, as it had been necessary to leave the lenses, hands, and dials unattached until the basic components were standing and secured. Beginning at 8 a.m. on December 15, 1988, assembly of the clock began on its pad outside the front entrance of the museum. The weather was clear, but very cold and windy. With the help of a County crane and members of the museum's custodial section, the process went quite well. The rehearsal earlier that fall proved invaluable, as we now had a good idea how the parts went together. The clock was operating shortly after noon, with final touches completely by 3 p.m. Power for the lights was made available the next day, and for the first time in its present location the clock was illuminated at night.

Even though the clock is back in place, it would be properly wound and maintained, just as in the old days before the advent of electric clocks. Although it was an eight-day interval, it is advisable to wind it once a week. Due to the extreme changes in temperature, there are variances in keeping the exact time. At present the clock is running one to two minutes fast per week, and adjustments are made as necessary. The lessons learned in repairing and preserving the clock have been recorded to aid future restorers.

Through the work of many dedicated individuals, the museum's Seth Thomas Street Clock is back in operation. This restoration should see it into its second century of timekeeping.

Special Note

Since this article was published, Herb Smith has refurbished the clock again. In 2000 it was re-installed at a new outside location near the museum's main entrance. The clock is now electrified, and the original works are preserved in the History Department.