For the first time, I am posting something to this blog from Indiana. While I focus on things in Middle Tennessee, I will often include other places not too far away, usually withing a half day's drive. Sometime's it's hard to remember that you can get into Indiana, two states away, in less than three hours.
With a diamater or 40 feet, this is one of the largest clocks in the world, and I first saw it about 10 years ago on a vacation to Louisville, where while the clock is across the rvier from downtown, it is easily viewable. Recently, I had a chance to visit the clock up close.
The building the clock sits atop was built to be a prison in 1847. After a 1919 fire, a new prison needed to be built and Colgate-Palmolive bought the building.
The clock was originally built in 1906 by Colgate engineer Warren Day and was constructed by the Seth Thomas Clock Company. At the time, the clock served a similar function at a colgate plant in Jersey City, NJ but was relocated here in 1924. (Another similar but slightly larger clock was built in it's place in NJ.)
While it still keeps accurate time and the neon still lights up at night, the clock is endangered. Colgate closed the plant in 2008. (Until recently, there was a large neon "Colgate" also on the roof to the left of the clock.) The National Register of Historic Places offered to add the plant to the register and provide funds for restoration, but Colgate hopes to sell the property to another business.
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