Just in time: How this group saved a massive historic Louisville clock from a scrap pile

The 118-year-old clock is a symbol of the passing of time, and it’s been ticking away quietly inside the old Union Station for the past seven years.

For decades, this E. Howard & Co. clock faced out over our city. In a world where wristwatches were uncommon and digital clocks on cellphones didn’t exist, the clock, which once stood nine stories up at the top of the clock tower at the old Union Station at West Broadway and 10th streets, kept our community punctual. It told people on the ground when to go to church, when to catch a train, and when it was time to go home for dinner.

But as time spun ahead, the hand-wound clock, first installed in 1905, lost its relevance in a way. At some point, it was replaced with an electric clock, and seemingly, its work was done. Someone left the clock at the base of the stairs that led into the tower inside Union Station, where it gathered dust and sat in pieces in disrepair for many years.

Time wasn't on its side.

Fortunately, a group of clock collectors was.

The details of the clock’s life are not as clear as the numerals on its face, but its story is certainly worth a few minutes of all our time.

Earlier this month, I met with a few members of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Chapter 35 Kentucky Bluegrass curious to learn how this seven-foot-tall clock journeyed from the top of that tower to where it rests now, in a different prominent space just behind the front desk in the lobby of the old Union Station, which in modern times is Transit Authority of River City’s offices and an active terminal for buses.

“They tore down too many historical buildings of this town over the years … as progress goes on, things go down, but it's lucky that TARC has actually taken this over and tried to preserve this,” Chuck Kays, a member of the club, told me. “People come in to see it, and (experience) the way it was."

The way the story goes, an air conditioning technician, whose father was part of the club, noticed the discarded clock while he was working on a unit at TARC’s offices several years ago. When he told his father about the clock, they opted to store it, rather than let it end up in a scrap yard. It wasn’t until the early 2010s, though, that the Chapter 35 Kentucky Bluegrass took on the old E. Howard clock as a restoration project.

Kays spoke on behalf of the club, but make no mistake, repairing and restoring the E. Howard was a team effort. There weren’t just two hands on this clock. Rather, there were many that brought their expertise and skills to the project.

They moved the E. Howard to the basement of the Kentucky branch of the Antique Automobile Club of America, and tinkered with it for nearly three years to make it work again. The clock was missing several parts, so the club sourced old parts from other clocks from as far away as Nebraska and Niagara Falls.

And they had to make some adjustments, too. The pendulum was nine-feet long, and when it was in its original spot at the top of the tower in the Old Union Station, it swung through a hole in the floor. With no tower, the clock collectors built a stand for it so the pendulum could go back and forth without having to cut into a floor.

Once it was completed, the club put it on display at the Automobile Club, but anytime there was a large event or party there, the group had to take it apart and bring it back to the basement. There just wasn't enough room for such a massive timepiece.

It needed a true home.

Better yet, it was time to go home.

When TARC took over the old Union Station in the late 1970s, the vision was to update and restore the historic railroad hub, said Carrie Butler, executive director of TARC. It invested $2 million in updating the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems as well as restoring the stunning stained glass windows and the original ceramic floor.

“That's always been part of our charge here in this historic building, to keep the history of the space intact and up to date as best we can,” Butler told me.

So in 2014, the club teamed up with TARC to install the E. Howard in the lobby just beneath where the clock had ticked all those years before.

The club largely kept the integrity of the E. Howard when it restored it. The only electricity that's used in the clock now is the part that would have needed to be hand-wound from the tower when it was first installed in 1905. The iconic clock is powered by five 50-pound weights that trip a switch, which triggers a motor. That power is transferred through a drum and then from gear to gear, up to a part known as the escape wheel, which catches one tooth and then releases another.

Those teeth are what make the stereotypical ticking sound of a clock once every two seconds.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of all of this is that 118 years after this clock started telling time for our city, it's accurate within two minutes per month.

Now it has a place of honor and a club dedicated to looking after it. While modern timepieces have made relics like this E. Howard obsolete, there is so much value in preserving history for generations to come.

For a minute, when you stare into the clock’s enormous face and watch the gears and weights move, it feels almost like turning back the hands of time.

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Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. If you've got something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description — she wants to hear from you. Say hello at mmenderski@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4053. Follow along on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieMenderski.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville clock club restores historic clock from old Union Station