Sandy Strickland: Call Box: Historic clock has survived a bus crash, a thief and the ravages of time

April 07-- Apr. 7--Dear Call Box: I work downtown and have passed the ornate clock at Adams and Laura streets for decades. I heard it had quite a history.

K.G., East Arlington

Dear K.G.: It was smashed into smithereens when hit by a wayward bus in 1974.

It was restored by a talented one-handed artisan and calliope craftsman.

It was silenced again for almost nine years when a thief walked off with a pivotal part in 1988 while the timepiece was briefly disassembled for repair.

It became noted for the catchphrase, "Meet you under the clock."

It was once dubbed "the handsomest of its kind in the South."

It was granted local landmark status, probably the only clock to be so designated in Jacksonville history.

And it was one of only 50 of its type in the United States. Only 12 are said to be left today.

After more than a century, the clock is still ticking.

The Greenleaf & Crosby Co. bought the clock to symbolize the rebirth of Jacksonville about four months after the Great Fire of 1901. Damon Greenleaf and J.H. Crosby were partners in a tourist-oriented jewelry store that also sold flamingo plumes, seashells, alligator heads, live birds and small animals.

The fire destroyed their Bay Street business, so they relocated two blocks down to 41 W. Bay. They ordered the biggest clock they could handle from the Seth Thomas Clock Co. of New Haven, Conn., at a cost of $1,200, according to a 1997 Times-Union story.

When Greenleaf & Crosby built its current building at Laura and Adams in 1927, the elegant clock came along. Several years later when Jacobs Jewelers leased space from the new owners of the building, it acquired the clock and the clock acquired a new moniker.

The clock was 15 feet high, weighed more than a ton, was a glossy black with gold trim, had four globe lamps, a cast-iron pedestal, brass Roman numerals and lion heads that were trap doors allowing access to the clock's mechanisms.

Roy Thomas, owner of Jacobs Jewelers, recalls the fateful night in July 1974 when a city bus toppled the clock with its huge cast-iron pedestal globe. He heard the screeching of tires, a very loud noise and felt the building vibrate. Thomas quickly jumped up and ran out of his corner office. The clock was knocked to the sidewalk and broken into 200 pieces. What followed was a long convoluted process to get it restored and a debate with the city over who was responsible.

While the bus had hit the clock, the driver was trying to avoid a motorist who had swerved into its lane, Thomas said. The outcome was that the motorist's insurance company paid for half, and Jacobs paid for half.

Then came the challenge of finding someone skilled enough to repair it, Thomas said.

Finally, noted craftsman Tommy White, who lost a hand when an outboard motor blew up while he was tuning it in the St. Johns River, was hired by Jacobs. He and his son, Billy, loaded the pieces on a flatbed truck and spent nine months painstakingly putting it back in ticktock condition.

Then came another challenge. White discovered it was too big for the door of his workshop, Thomas said. So he had to remove part of the entrance.

"He did a beautiful job on the clock," Thomas said.

Through the years, the big clock had to be repaired and refurbished several times. In 1988, when someone swiped the piece that operated the clock's faces, it was almost a decade before it was restored to its original splendor.

At the time, city officials said it would cost too much to fix, according to newspaper archives.

But in 1996 the City Council approved a restoration of the clock.

So Walter Roe carted it off to his company in Largo near Tampa with the help of a crane, a big truck and an acetylene torch to cut through corroded bolts.

Al Battle, the Downtown Development Authority's project manager for the restoration, said in a 1997 Times-Union interview that he remembers the clock being inseparable from downtown.

"The nostalgia factor alone is reason enough for the restoration," Battle said.

In place of the original equipment that operated the clock's faces, the restored version featured an electronic mechanism that automatically compensated for time changes. It had a battery backup in case of power outages.

Roe told The Times-Union he was a little surprised to see that the clock's original faces were very thin metal over wood. The new faces were of highly weather-resistant acrylic.

Jacobs donated the timepiece to the city. The restoration was completed in 1997 with city and private funds.

Another significant renovation came in 2011 when it was removed as part of the Laura Street enhancement project. It was sent to the Verdin Co. of Cincinnati and shipped back to Jacksonville looking like new, Thomas said. But it sat in a warehouse for a while waiting for a new and deeper concrete base to be poured at the corner. When done, it was more stable than it ever was before, Thomas said. For the first time, it also chimed on the quarter hour and strikes on the hour.

Chance played a big role in one story about the clock. Thomas was on vacation with his wife in San Francisco when they stopped to rest outside a jewelry store. He looked in the window and saw a 15-inch version of his clock.

When he asked where it came from, the owner said that when the Seth Thomas salesman retired, he gave them the the miniature version that he used as a sample. But it was with the stipulation that they never sell it.

When Thomas returned to Jacksonville, he called a friend who had a prominent watch and clock business in South Carolina. If he could borrow the clock and have it duplicated in Germany, he probably could sell thousands of them. He did, and it proved highly successful. Thomas still sells them today.

As for the 15-foot version, you can still buy it from Verdin, Thomas said. But it's now made of fiberglass rather than cast iron. And it will cost you at least $35,000 plus $10,000 to install it.

If you have a question about Jacksonville's history, call (904) 359-4128, email [email protected] or mail to Call Box, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Please include contact information. Photos are also welcome.

Sandy Strickland: (904) 359-4128

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