Look Back: 1909 movement to Save the Court House Tower

Oct. 3—Just like in the 1985 film Back to the Future, there was a movement to Save the Clock Tower on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre. In this case, the court house tower that had clocks.

Before the present day Luzerne County Courthouse was constructed at North River and West North streets, the county courthouse was located in Public Square Park.

The county's third courthouse faced West Market Street with a tower directly in the middle. The high clock tower contained a belfry clock on four sides and a bell.

Many overhead pictures of Public Square were taken from the top of the tower.

As the Public Square courthouse was dismantled with the opening of the North River Street courthouse in 1909, a movement began to "Save the Court House Tower."

"The sentiment to retain the old court house tower and clock on Public Square is growing and several new suggestions were made yesterday as to the uses to which the tower could be put," the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Aug. 19, 1909.

Built when the courthouse was constructed in 1856, the tower over topped other buildings around Public Square and used as a fire watch. When the bell was placed, it was rung at the beginning of each day's court business.

"The new court house bell, which was safely moored in its position high up in the tower rang out for the benefit of court, jury and all having business in the temple of justice. We suppose its sound could be heard for several miles," the Luzerne Union newspaper reported Jan. 9, 1861.

The bell rung when there were fires in the valley.

"Last evening about a 7:45 o'clock, an alarm of fire was sounded from the gong and court house tower," the Record reported Sept. 12, 1874, about a fire at the Wyoming Valley Works on South Main Street.

"An attentive watchman was seen upon the court house tower yesterday. He was placed there for the purpose of giving an early alarm in case of fire in any part of the city," the Record reported July 5, 1876.

The court house tower was decorated with American flags to celebrate holidays and special occasions.

Rooms inside the tower were used by court workers and stenographers who hand-wrote proceedings in courtrooms. Citizens also paid their taxes in the county's tax office that was located on the first floor of the tower.

"The court house tower is vastly improved since the painters began their work. The operations of painting from slings hanging down from the top of the tower are watched with great interest by spectators below, who do not envy the painters their job," reported the Record on Sept. 25, 1891.

Efforts to save the court house tower involved renovating rooms to be used for the community. Public restrooms were planned for the first floor with talks about installing an elevator to reach each of the other four floors.

"They have stopped the work of tearing down for a few days in order to give an opportunity to those wishing to preserve the tower," the Record reported Aug. 19, 1909.

Any effort to save the tower failed.

An oversized crowd gathered on Public Square to watch crews use dynamite to implode the tower on Saturday, Oct. 9, 1909. But then something went wrong.

"The destruction of the tower of the old court house was not as successful as was anticipated, for when the supports were blasted yesterday morning, only the part facing East Market Street fell, the other sides remaining intact," the Record reported Oct. 11, 1909.

Crews returned three days later to finish the job.

"Another blast at 12:45 o'clock this morning throwing the walls in a heap so that the old tower which for 48 years stood in the one place and held the clock which told the time to all residents and the bell that sounded the fire alarms was no more," the Record reported Oct. 12, 1909.

The clocks were stored in the basement of Wilkes-Barre City Hall until they were re-discovered in 1967 during a cleaning-out process. The clocks are now in the possession of the Luzerne County Historical Society.

The bell used to alert residents of fires was kept at Wilkes-Barre City's No. 8 Engine Firehouse at Laurel and Scott streets in East End until 1942, when it was donated to the Edward Mackin School in East End for the school's scrap pile drive. Most likely, the bell was melted for metal needed during World War II.