Time for the next 100 years: DeKalb’s memorial clock undergoes restoration

DeKALB – Roger Keys is familiar with the historic clock at Memorial Park in DeKalb.

Twenty-five years ago, Keys was part of the crew that worked on moving, painting and restoring the clock. For the past month, Keys has been working to restore the clock again.

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 goal is by using a premium paint, repairing and welding here and there, using stainless steel bolts to prevent rusting and keeping the clock’s repairs as authentic as possible, it will hopefully be 25 years before the next painting is needed,” Keys said.

Keys also has been sealing and priming inside the clock to solve water leakage, which had caused rusting.

The clock’s restoration is underway, with an unveiling ceremony planned for Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, to honor soldiers, sailors and all local veterans.

“The clock is an important piece of our community’s history,” DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said. “It is a great community effort, with people generating generously. By restoring the clock, the community is keeping it sound for another generation to enjoy.”

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.

World War II veteran Donald Schoo joined the DeKalb Police Department in 1947, and one of his duties was to wind the clock once a week, using a key similar to one for a jail cell lock. There was only one clock key, and after the city electrified the clock, the key was retired.

Through the years, the clock had become poorly maintained. It had numerous paint schemes, including a patriotic red, white and blue, and then plain white with colored shields around the clock faces.

Once approval by the city was given, a committee was formed, and a fundraising campaign to renovate and move the clock began in 1992.

Stephen Bigolin, the chairman of the 1996 DeKalb Landmark Commission, said that the idea for restoring DeKalb’s clock came in the early 1990s, when the village of Waterman raised $13,700 to restore its 1919 Wiltberger Memorial Clock, also made by E. Howard & Company.

A total of $17,000, including $6,000 from the city, was raised to move and restore DeKalb’s clock.

Margaret Benson Diedrich of San Francisco sent a donation along with a letter stating she was “no longer angry at the clock.” She was the 5-year old girl injured in the car accident involving the clock in 1929. Another donation came from Gerald E. Concidine, son of Wesley Concidine, the DeKalb policeman and custodian of the clock from 1921 to 1945.

The restored clock in Memorial Park was dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 1996. Memorial Park also includes limestone fragments salvaged from the 1906 DeKalb Post Office, “Donna” the tank, and the mural “Its Merits Recommend It” painted by the Northern Illinois Art Museum in 1999.

To donate to the clock’s restoration, go to dekalbrotary.org and click on the clock fundraiser donation button.

• History and photographs of the clock compiled with the help of The Joiner History Room and Stephen Bigolin.