City Hall Clock Tower

New Bern City Hall Clock Tower - Today

Photo courtesy of National Archives
City Hall as Post Office,Court & Custom House

The City Hall Clock Tower is a prominent landmark for downtown New Bern that can be seen for miles. It serves as the City’s unofficial timepiece, by night illuminated by red light bulbs mounted on each hand and white bulbs on each hour.

Many are not aware City Hall was constructed in 1895-97 to house the post office, Court and Custom House operations without a tower or clock.

In Peter Sandbeck’s book, The Historic Architecture of New Bern and Craven County, North Carolina, the US Treasury Department built the building at a cost of $68,746.60. Although the City fathers asked for a clock of some sort to be added, after the original plans had been finalized, no action was taken on the request until 1906  when tentative plans were made to install a single-faced clock in the south gable. Numerous citizens complained such a clock would not be visible from most of the town that led to construction of a small rooftop clock tower housing a four-faced clock in 1907.  Citizens again complained that this first clock was too small to be seen two blocks away. In 1908, Congressman Charles R. Thomas of New Bern obtained an appropriation to construct a new more prominent tower and clock. In 1909, the King Lumber Company of Charlottesville, VA was  awarded the contract to construct  the present tower and install the Seth Thomas illuminated four-faced clock according to designs prepared by Treasury Department architect James Know Taylor. The tower and installation was completed in 1911.

 

In 1935, the City purchased the building and it renovated it for use as the city’s municipal center.  The interior of the building was renovated in the early 1990’s.  Although the clock is still a prominent landmark, the large Seth Thomas mechanism was replaced with an electric motor in 1991. The historic clock mechanism’s removal from the City Hall Clock Tower and its  new lease in life was posted in a previous blog.

Tell us what you think.

Susan Moffat Thomas

Executive Director

The Baxter Clock...a new lease on life

City Hall Clock Tower and
Baxter Street Clock Today

The ticking and chiming of a clock is both fascinating and mesmeric to a great many people. When a clock has the special attribute of being a very prominent feature and important landmark, it becomes a highly prized possession to the community. In New Bern we are fortunate to have two such clocks, the City Hall Clock Tower, visible for miles, serves as a symbol of city government and the Baxter Street Clock on Pollock Street.

The Baxter Street, now a public landmark, was built in 1920 by the Seth Thomas Company for the J.O. Baxter family who erected the clock in front of the Baxter Jewelry Store to advertise their business. The four faces were decorated with painted advertisements. In 1973, it was formally recognized as a significant historic asset when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

On May 9, 1977, disaster struck and the shock was felt throughout the state.

Excerpts from a letter written on May 10, 1977 by Dabney Coddington, then Curator of Education at Tryon Palace to Janet Seapher, a historian in the state’s Historic Preservation Section, Archives and History, provides a personal account and reaction….

Dear Janet:

I hate reporting things like this. The enclosed Sun Journal article covers it fully. The Baxter Street Clock was first knocked loose from its pedestal by a truck very early in the morning, it appears. In righting the clock the next day, you can see what happened. A comedy of accident and error, but one that has upset a number of people.

Della and Bunny Baxter are, as you may guess, quite stunned by the whole happening. The cast iron casing of the clock remains intact, and the upper parts of the workings were what spilled into the street. They have been collected and kept. A letter from you and A. & H. expressing sympathy and offering any advice on repair, would be most fitting. They were very proud of this landmark and I hope they will restore it, even with new modern workings inside. That block of Pollock Street really looks naked, believe me.

Wish I had better news.

For the next fourteen years, the ornamental paneled base stood as a constant reminder of the tragic accident and attempts to replace the clock by the Baxter family were unsuccessful.

In 1990, I contacted the Verdin firm in Ohio, a company founded in 1842 committed to producing the highest quality cast bronze clocks, bells and towers. They had the original patterns of the clock case and agreed to do the restoration project for $28,000. The Baxter family agreed to give Swiss Bear the clock  and remaining parts if we would could raise the funds to restore it. The City agreed to accept ownership and on-going maintenance if Swiss Bear raised all the funds and coordinated the project. We initiated a fundraising campaign, raised $28,000, coordinated the project and the Baxter Street Clock was again ticking away.

Dedication Ceremony 1991

On April 20, 1991, Swiss Bear transferred clock ownership formally to the City at a dedication ceremony with special guest Patricia Dorsey, NC Secretary of Cultural Resources.

Baxter Street Clock on
Pollock St. Today

Like so many of Swiss Bear’s projects, interested citizens rose to the challenge and their contributions gave this historic landmark a new lease on life.

Tell us what you think.

Susan Moffat Thomas

Executive Director