Brockport’s historic tower clock atop the United Methodist Church has been removed for repair after 100 years of operation. But, a glitch occurred in the process. Two hands were left on one of the four clock faces, and the job remained unfinished.
The reasons for the hands being left behind, and their eventual removal on October 16, add more drama to the original fascinating story told by this newspaper on June 25, 2017. That feature reviewed the clock’s history and its needed renovation. On July 13, the clockworks were removed and transported to a shop in Lockport.
The progress of the tower clock project, including the extra steps for the last two hands, reveals the unified community support to complete the task and fully fund it. That support comes from a civic organization, a fire department, a utility, a construction company, the village government, and generous citizens.
At the beginning of the project in July, the Brockport Fire Department provided its ladder truck to reach the clock hands for removal. However, power lines were in the way, prohibiting the ladder from reaching the hands on the western face of the clock. Dave Moore, foreman in the Village Department of Public Works and supervisor of the clock project, considered reaching the hands safely with a rented lift.
Meanwhile, the church contracted with BBT Construction Services Inc., through owner Greg Didas, to do wind damage roof repair on the steeple.
Greg and Dave Moore knew each other from their days at Brockport High School. Greg had seen the remaining clock hands and contacted Dave, offering to remove them while the lift was up there. It costs $1,400 a day for Greg to rent the monster rig he described as a “135-foot-reach man lift.” That’s about the price the Village would have had to pay if doing it alone.
Also in the phenomenon of human connections like Greg and Dave, three generations of the Didas family were on the scene: Greg’s father, Bill, now retired, and Greg’s son, Kyle, who was high in the lift near the roof on the day of the interview.
National Grid was also involved by temporarily relocating the power lines and putting rubber protection around them.
Kyle Didas removed the two hands, but, to pull the gears out, he needed help from someone inside the tower to turn a nut that would release the gears. In the network of community support, that person was Keith Marshall, Brockport Lions Club president. Keith also is the person who took over the weekly clock-winding recently, after Dave Moore did the task faithfully for many years.
Dave will take the last two hands to the Essence of Time company in Lockport where the clockworks are being restored. The intricate work is not expected to be completed until June, 2018. The process includes recasting gears, remaking them because the teeth are worn. In the pursuit of historic authenticity, the framework for the clockworks has been sand blasted and is being repainted with the original pin stripe that was a trademark of Seth Thomas tower clocks in the early 1900’s. The pin striping that it received in a quick repair years ago is not authentic, Dave said. Amazingly and sadly, this meticulous attention to historic detail on the magnificent clockworks will remain hidden from public view in the clock tower.
The Brockport Lions Club has organized the community fundraising effort to pay the $21,000 bill for the clock restoration. At press time, the community donations were at about $14,800. Also, the village is about to receive a grant of $11,000 from the Rochester Area Foundation. That adds up to several thousand dollars above the target. The surplus, and more still coming, will start a maintenance fund for the clock tower, according to Dave who, wearing two hats, has managed the Lions Club fundraising and created the “thermometer” fundraising gauge outside the church. The fund will cover such future projects as cleaning the clock face and painting its trim.
The two “hands of time” were delayed in removal. But, no time is lost, as the community has rallied to help the project finish in a timely manner.
(The original story on the history of the clock and its condition needing repair is found in “The time and the chime to be restored in Brockport’s tower clock,” in Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald on June 25, 2017. Go to www.westsidenewsny.com)
