Move clock? Only time will tell
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
The sale of the former TD Bank building on Main Street has closed, the deed transfer record having been filed with the county on August 6. The building was bought by Compu-Design USA of Florida.
After the sale closed, the power was turned off to the building. It has been surmised by some that the power bill account with NYSEG was not immediately transferred, and as such was treated as if TD Bank had neglected their bill.
The shutoff of power by NYSEG had the unintended consequence of shutting off power to the Memorial Chime Clock. For several days, the clock stood still, all faces static at 10:30. The clock was dark at night, and its quarter-hourly sounding of chimes was silenced. There was nothing mechanically or electronically wrong with the clock; there was just no incoming power for it to work.
Village officials were able to contact the building's new owner last week. He was unaware that power had been shut off to the building; he hadn't wanted the power turned off. He was also unaware about the situation with the clock.
Calls were made, and power was restored to the building - and clock - on August 12. Anyone who was in the area around 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. could have seen the clock "race through time" as it readjusted itself from 10:30 to 7:45.
How could the clock have set itself to the right time? This was done with a small computer and GPS connected antenna, which were one of the improvements added to the clock when it was renovated and restored back in 2010. This system coordinated its time to Greenwich Mean Time, adjusted to the Eastern Time Zone (with the Daylight Savings adjustment, whenever necessary), and in turn set all four clock faces at once to the proper time.
Some may recall that the clock faces in the past had to be manually reset from its master control. This meant that several people had to relay the time on the clock to the person at the control box. Unlike today, each clock face had to be adjusted individually to the proper time. Both factors together meant that setting the time on the clock used to be a time and labor-intensive task. Modern advancements have made this process obsolete, but the clock time setters have their place in history much like the lamp-lighter.
During this time, a question was very likely on many a Granvillian’s mind: How would a new owner react to the clock? If the new owner had been shocked or didn't care, several things could have happened. At the least, the new owner could have left the power off. At worst, they could have had plans to tear the building down with no warning, which would destroy the clock's master control in the process. If the new owner was tolerant or supportive of having the clock around, then they would likely cooperate with the village on having the clock working. In a way, the whole situation also served as a bellwether for the future of the Memorial Clock.
Some were concerned enough that talk resurfaced of moving the clock across the street to the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce property. It is understandable why some would not want to move the clock. Some possible reasons include the cost of reconstructing the pole and connections if the clock was moved, the current knowledge of acceptance by the new owner. In addition, such a move would remove the clock from a location only a few feet away from where it originally hung on the Washington County National Bank building in the 1940s.
However, while Granville was lucky this time with the Memorial Clock, Granville may or may not be as lucky next time. If the clock was moved to the Chamber property, such a move would place the clock on town property, which would allow for clock to stay there for years to come.
Note: title was originally "Moving the clock could be a good move".
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