A7

By David Goss

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Speak Up

We forget how dependent our ancestors were on public clocks in the city in order to get to work on time, or keep appointments. Though there are still several public clocks that operate in the city, we pay little attention to their faces or their rings.

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The city's first public clock was placed in a rooftop cupola of Trinity Anglican Church on Germain Street in 1810, and that church still has what is considered a public clock to this day that rings the quarters and the hours twenty four-seven.

Tower clocks on St Luke's on Main Street in the North End, and on St. George's on Watson Street on the west side are also considered public tower clocks.

At one time, all three were considered so important that the City of Saint John budgeted an amount to assist with their upkeep, That is not the case today, however as the churches keep them going at their own expense.

In Trinity's case, it is not the 1810 clock that is ticking away today, as the original church burnt in the great fire of June 20, 1877.

It was December of 1880 before the church was rebuilt and in that period, and a clock was once again installed in the 210 foot spire

Three years later, a public clock was belatedly installed into the city's new post office on Prince William Street. The 1879 building still stands, and the clock is still visible, but it has not keep time for years.

When plans for the new post office were completed, a space was made in the tower so a clock could be installed when one could be arranged to be built and shipped from a Montreal manufacturer Mr. E. Chanteloup

On August 31 1883, it finally came, as the Daily Telegraph noted, "after a circuitous passage around Gaspe in one of the Gulf port steamships."

It was described at the time as having a face six feet in diameter which would be illuminated at night by means of gas. (Electric power was still a year away from introduction in Saint John when a power plant opened on Paradise Row, but it did not serve the downtown core.) The clock works were described as "highly polished and pronounced as superior in quality." The pendulum, it was noted, "is nine feet long, and weighs 500 pounds." It continued, noting, "the weights would have a drop of twenty six feet, which necessitated the cutting of the upper floor of the building."

There was also to be a bell, "three feet in diameter," and weighing, "a little upward of 2000 pounds", and it was "to be suspended above the roof."

The clock would have to be wound twice a week, the article noted, and it was for many years. However, sometime after a new and even larger post office was constructed across the street in 1915, the old clock was not maintained, and at some point, it stopped functioning as a tower clock for those passing by on Prince William Street.

However, it's face can still be seen to this day, and though the building is well illuminated by its current owner, the clock is not.

There is one post office clock that still ticks on, though, and that is the one in the 66 foot octagonal tower of St George's Church in Saint John West. It was donated to the church by the Post Office when the 1911 structure on Union Street was demolished as part of the port expansion in 1932.

And one final post office clock can be found in the Deluxe French Fry building on Main Street West. That post office was also built in 1911, so the clock works is very likely the same as the made in England mechanism at St George's, but it has not be operational for many years now. However, it, and the others mentioned, are well worth taking a drive to see on some sunny day this summer when you have some "time" to kill.