By Jason Emerson
Editor
If all goes well, by New Year’s Day 2019, Cazenovia will again resound with the ringing of the bell in the Methodist Church, as directed by a refurbished community clock in the church tower.
The project, being undertaken by the church and by local jeweler and businessman Ralph Monforte, is currently underway with repairs either ongoing or completed to the clock tower, the clock faces and the clock mechanism inside the tower. A non-profit organization has also been formed to fund the maintenance of the clock tower into the future.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do … it just makes sense the jewelry store should have something to do with timekeeping,” said Monforte. “That bell rang through the valleys and told people what time of day it was – and were going to bring that back.”
According to local historian and Methodist Church member Milt Sernett, Cazenovia was once the home of a succession of noteworthy tower clock makers. For nearly 55 years, these craftsmen created masterpieces that kept the time of day and, in most cases, tolled the hours.
Cazenovia’s first tower clock was an iron one built by Jehiel Clark, Sr., in 1820 and placed in the tower of the Presbyterian Church. Later it was moved to the Methodist “Old Stone Church,” built in 1832. In 1862, community leaders replaced the old iron clock with an improved clock built in 1859 by Austin Van Riper and his top mechanics, John Stone and Justice Marshall.
This tower clock was transferred to the taller tower of the new Methodist Church (known as “The Yellow Brick Church”) in January 1874. The bell, cast in 1839, was transferred from the “Old Stone Church” to the “Yellow Brick Church” in 1872. Though located in the Methodist Church, the clock was village property and considered a community asset.
Russ Oechsle, an expert on historic tower clocks, has praised the community clock as “one of America’s most beautiful tower clocks.”
The village made sporadic efforts over the years to keep the clock in good working order. In 1997, after many hours of voluntary labor, a group of Methodists and clock restoration experts returned the community clock to working order.
“At present, there is a need to replace the clock faces and refurbish the clock mechanism and thereby give all of us a working timepiece to order our day and serve as a symbol of community pride,” according to Sernett. “The tower in which the clock and bell are housed likewise needs repair and restoration.”
Mayor Kurt Wheeler said that while the village is not actively participating in the refurbishing project it is “fully supportive and appreciates the efforts of the committee.”
The Methodist church has already started restoration work on the clock tower, to be done at church expense of about $52,000, said Sernett and Tom Long, church finance committee chair.
The mortar has been repaired from the roofline up, the clock tower louvres (wooden slats used for ventilation) have been rebuilt and replaced and zinc-coated copper has been placed over the tower lintels. “We’re trying to get this so we don’t have to do anything for another 15 to 20 years,” Sernett said. “This could be another community focal point, a matter of pride, like the Lincklaen House sign.”
Once the clock tower restoration is completed, which will be soon, the clock repairs can begin, Long said.
The clock face and mechanism are being refurbished at the expense of Monforte and Cazenovia Jewelry for about $25,000, Monforte said. The work will include remaking all four clock faces, with the numbers being reproduced just as they were historically for 200 years, and new clock hands; the clock’s interior movements will also be restored, and Monforte is currently taking bids from professional, historic clock repairers nationwide.
“Everything is there [in the clock] and it actually operates, it just needs to be cleaned and calibrated,” Monforte said.
While the costs and work on refurbishing the clock and the tower are being borne by the Methodist church and Cazenovia Jewelry, these are only the beginning — more important to the project is the upkeep and maintenance of the clock once renovations are complete, Monforte said. To that end, The Cazenovia Clock Heritage Foundation, Inc., has been created to take ownership of the clock from the village and lease space for it in the church. It is a not-for-profit community organization dedicated to the restoration of the clock mechanism and clock faces as well as the perpetual care of the historic treasure.
“There has never been an organization in place to continually wind this clock — which is how it runs. This group will make sure the clock stays operating and again return it to the important place it always held in Cazenovia as a community time piece,” Monforte said.
The foundation is aiming to raise $25,000 to $50,000 for the ongoing maintenance of the clock.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the maintenance of the community clock can mail checks to The Cazenovia Clock Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 614, Cazenovia, NY, 13035. Checks should be made out to The Cazenovia Clock Heritage Foundation.
