A friend who "grew up with Elgin" as the first of four generations in his Family to NOT have been an Elgin Watchmaker sent me a Postcard pic of the Elgin Clock tower and a photo of a Tower Clock mechanism much like that in the Elgin Tower that was pointlessly destroyed in the mid-1960's.(date cor.)

Here's an image of the Elgin Clock Tower coming down.

And this is all that is left, an old post at the main entrance.

All so another family dollar store and a walgreens could take its place, very sad.

What a beautiful clockroom. What became of the clock itself? Was it really just destroyed?? What is the electronic looking stuff in the right side of the picture? I sure hope the clock was preserved.

You'd hope that the clock mechanism itself was spared. And yes the former main entrance to the Elgin factory is now the entrance to Walgreens and the like. Wonder what the other Watch companies former grounds look like such as Hamilton. Thank you Dave for sharing that image of the clock works themselves.

Thanks Dave for showing us this piece....

Roger, look at the photo that Roland posted of the building falling down....the face and hands are still in place, so I would bet a dollar to a donut that the works were left in place and lost along with everything else....

It is almost criminal....

Regards,

Jerry

I never noticed that Jerry, thank you for picking that out.
That is a total shame. Didn't the town care about one of it's former MAJOR employers to save something other than the 2 stone posts and some fence.

You can see those posts in the color post card Dave submitted. Here is a B&W of a similar veiw.

I haven't been able to locate the article yet but the tower was dynamited Sunday October 2, 1966 at 9:30 am.

What I consider ironic is the area around where the tower stood is know as Clock Tower Plaza, at least according to what I can find.

From what I have found the clock tower was 144 feet tall & topped with a 53 foot flag pole, the clock had four 14 1/2 foot faces, the minute hand was over 7 feet long. The pendulum was 14 feet with a counterbalanced weight of 350 pounds.


This is a marker in front of Walgreens at Clock Tower Plaza, apparently letters are falling off the marker.

Interesting that the marker refers to "Big Ben" as the clock in London. That is a common error. Big Ben is the great bell, not the clock.

I'm really glad that the Hamilton Watch complex in Lancaster, PA was saved and renovated into condos. It is such a beautiful building, and they kept the outside just the way it was. I got to see the place last summer.The twin clock towers are very impressive! And it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's too bad that there wasn't imaginative people around when the fate of the Elgin building was decided. Here's some pics I took that day.

Hamilton Watch Company.

Another view

One of the tower tops

Plaque on main gate

And yes, both of the four-faced clocks work...perfectly.

Thx to Tom for more insight into Elgin and to Brad for sharing the "what happened to Hamilton factory" and the images.

Here is another postcard view of the Elgin factory and clock tower from 1929

Here are some photos that I found. Scrap anyone?

Elgin's start

I was in waltham a couple of years ago. The factory building is still complete and undergoing restoration for re-use as offices, condos. etc. The view from across the Charles River is just as it was in all those postcards and wall advertising photos. In Springfield IL the Illinois Watch Co. main office building is still there and the clock has been repaired. The rest of the factory has been extensively remodeled and factory and grounds is now the Illinois EPA. I was there a few years ago. Where the observatory was is now a McDonalds! Last year in Rockford IL I checked on the old Rockford Watch Co. factory building which is in partial use but otherwise somewhat run-down. I was heartened by the restoration of the Waltham factory. If any of you get ANYWHERE near Boston go visit it-it's easy to find, right there on Crescent St. along the riverside!

Yes William, I too am delighted that an effort is being made in restoring and using these buildings. They are a part of our heritage, and major landmarks of the cities they are in. And they are beautiful examples of the architectural style of their day. What happened to the Elgin building was extremely short-sighted and shameful, especially when one considers the contribution Elgin National Watch Co. made to the city of Elgin! When I was in Pennsylvania last summer to do a job in Carlisle, I made a special trip to Lancaster just to see the old Hamilton building. I'm sure others have done the same. It is like looking at a wonderful reminder of the glory days of watch manufacturing. And I was truly impressed! What are people going to see when they journey to Elgin, Illinois? A Walgreens, a dollar store, a cheap plaque with the letters falling off, and two lonely gate posts. That's it! Very sad. Regards, Brad

And William, my wife's family live in Connecticut. The next time we're over there visiting, we're going to take a day trip up to Waltham, Mass, and take a look at the old Waltham factory. And also check and see if there is anything left of some of the watch company buildings that were in Connecticut, like Seth Thomas. Regards, Brad

Unfortunately, the decade of the '60's saw a LOT of these landmarks go down to the wrecking ball before the Public either realized what they were losing, or began to even care.

This was the same time that the original Penn Station was destroyed in NYC too.

Regrds! Mark