What's with the blue cocoon on the Thayer Academy tower?

BRAINTREE − The tower in Thayer Academy's main building is a landmark for town residents and drivers heading north on Route 3, especially during the holiday season, when it is adorned by an illuminated white star.

That tower is now covered by a protective cocoon of scaffolding and netting. So what's going on?

The tower and the clock inside it are undergoing repairs during the summer, said Alison Terry, chief of strategic marketing and communications for the school.

"We are repointing the brickwork and repairing the clock" as well as making structural repairs to the tower's roof, Terry said.

The building dates back to the academy's founding in 1876, Terry said, but the tower is not the original one. The original tower was torn down in 1910 because of structural problems and replaced with one that is 5 feet shorter, she said.

The clock, which has a hand-wound mechanism, hasn't worked in some time, Terry said.

She did not have a figure on the cost of the project.

The school was founded by a bequest from Gen. Sylvanus Thayer, an early superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an advocate of engineering education. Thayer died in 1872.

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The tower is named for Lillian Sleeper Lane, who wrote the school's alma mater hymn.

The work will be completed before the start of the new school year Sept. 6, Terry said.

Reach Fred Hanson at fhanson@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Repair work shrouds tower at Thayer Academy in Braintree