The old clock at the Kent County Courthouse is telling time again. Its bell had been silent since courthouse renovations began a few years ago. Now, it's tolling has returned the Green and as WDDE's Joseph Leahy found out, it's a welcome sound to many nearby residents..
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/dover-clock.mp3|titles= WDDE All Things Considered host Joseph Leahy visits the reopened Kent Co. Courthouse clock on the Green in Dover.]
It’s 10:56 am on the Green in Dover. Since 1875, the steadiest measure of time here has been the clock on top of the Kent County Courthouse. For generations of Doverites, the clock has called out the hours of each day.
“For my brothers and I, we felt like hearing the clock gave us a real sense of security and that we could count on something always being there and always telling the time. It was a very nurturing thing to have so it’s been sort of a very empty space in my life since it hasn’t been working,” said Mary Terry Carroll.
Carroll grew up on the Green and lives in her family’s 18th Century home there now. The clock has been silent since courthouse renovations began a few years ago.
“I remember distinctly, I would come home from school at 3 o’clock. And I knew that I could go out and play with my friends and then at 6 o’clock we sat down for dinner," said Carroll. "So, there were certain times of the day that you were able to anticipate what you had to do, and of course if you were late for something you would know when you’d hear the clock ring."
According to the state’s Historic Preservation Office, the clock came from Boston and the bell from Troy, New York. A watchmaker on Loockerman Street signed for it and agreed to keep the clock in order for the county.
[caption id="attachment_27314" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A look inside the clock atop the Kent County Courthouse on the Green in Dover. (Click to enlarge)"]
Office of Facilities Management program director Steve Murphy has been in charge of the clock since it was turned off for upgrades.
Murphy says the clock ran just fine before it was switched off during renovations. Recent work in the tower includes some new wiring, a new staircase and a better lighting, but the mechanism itself still works the way it did when Mary Terry Carroll heard it as kid.
The bell sits one floor below the four clock faces of the tower. A cable leads upstairs from the bell to a carriage of spinning gears, axles and motors. The clock’s mechanical carriage is iron and steel and about the size of a small tractor. An axle runs from the middle of each clock face to a central gear, regulated by other gears that are pushed by a motor.
“This is pretty much it. That drive shaft goes out to each clock, and then you can actually see right here is the inner timer. Here’s all your minutes. What I do is disconnect the motor and it frees up all [the clock arms] and then you turn one and they all turn." said Murphy manually demonstrating how the clock operates. “When the motor turns, it pulls this cable, it pulls back the hammer and the hammer hits the bell. The bell doesn’t actually move."
Murphy is now part of the history of keeping the clock ticking along - a history visible on one wall of the clock tower where there are still chalk marks that log repairs made over the decades. And with that history comes a certain sense of consistency and security.
“It’s a comfortable feeling. It’s one of those things that you always know it’s there. It’s going to give you some information and it’s going to give you a chime. People just feel comfortable about things that they remember from their childhood as they continue to mature,” said Stephen Marz, Director of the Delaware State Archives.
[caption id="attachment_27314" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The bell inside the Kent County Courthouse. (Click to enlarge)"]
Marz points out that many communities, in Delaware and other states, still share time this way. But, he adds the time-keepers aren’t as central to communities as they once were.
“As we moved from the town crier and advancement in mechanics we had the central clock and it made chimes and it did certain things at certain times and it fit into their whole aspect of their lifecycle," said Marz.
Joe McDaniel grew up with the clock in the 1940s and 50s and today resides two doors down from the courthouse. He says, though it may seem old fashioned, for him the clock’s return is a sign of the times getting back to normal on the Green.
“I’m glad to hear it," said McDaniel. “When you live in the middle of town that’s what you're going to hear. There goes the clock so it must be eleven o’clock, or thereabouts."