[Town Clock Building]

[Town Clock Building]

Photographer unknown

The Town Clock Tower is visible on the roof of the three-story building. Two men are standing on the roof and leaning on the base of the Clock Tower. There is an ornate marble baluster on each side of the base of the Clock Tower. Additional marble, in coordinating designs, is used around the window frames of the brick building. A desk and carpeting are visible through one of the street level windows. Several signs are visible on the building. On a side wall, near the roof, is a sign for “Ferguson Supply Company.” Visible on the shop occupying the left half of the street level are signs for “Tea and Coffee," "823 Grand Union Tea Co. 823," and a T-shaped hanging sign for "Tea Tea." Three other signs hung in the front windows of the shop in the right half of the street level: “Going out of business everything must be closed out at once,” “Buy your home furnishing now, we’ll store them until you are ready for them,” and “Going out of business, big bargains in house furnishings.” Signs on the neighboring buildings to the right of the Town Clock Building include "843 J. KA_AT 843" and "__ . __. Schumacher Hair Bazaar." Signs on the building on the far left include "__. Peterson Dentist," "813," and an awning with "Monarch," probably for Monarch Grocery.

Clock towers
Dubuque (Iowa) -- Pictorial works
William J. Klauer Collection
Gelatin silver prints
Itinerant photographers

The Center for Dubuque History, Loras College, 1450 Alta Vista Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001

Digital image captured using a Microtek ScanMaker 8700 with transparent media adapter. TIFF file created from a gelatin silver print scanned in 16 - bit grey scale at 1200 ppi.

Contact The Center for Dubuque History at Loras College, 1450 Alta Vista Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 or call (563) 588-7100 © 2013 LORAS COLLEGE

William J. Klauer Collection

Still image

1912-05/06

KL 018-005

This record is part of the William J. Klauer Collection held by The Center for Dubuque History, Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa.

Town Clock Building, 805-823 Main Street, Dubuque, Iowa

According to the Encyclopedia Dubuque (www.encyclopediadubuque.org), the town clock, said at the time to be the most accurate town clock in the United States, had been a prominent landmark of Dubuque since 1864 when Mr. and Mrs. George Wood gave the city a perpetual lease to Lot 54, the site of the John Bell and Company store, a building they owned on the west side of Main Street between Eighth and Ninth streets.
The heavy clock and tower collapsed on May 25, 1872, killing a child and two women who were inside the building. The building was rebuilt in 1873, and a new clock and bell installed.
The new clock, accurate to within two seconds each week, was operated with weights wound by cranks, which ran through a shaft into the basement of the building.

The original glass plate negative was lost. A gelatin silver print created in the 1970s remains.