With the future home of Gorham’s old town clock undecided, a parish pastor is pleading with town councilors to leave the historic relic in hands of the church where it has been since 1868.
Rev. David E. Butler, senior minister of the First Parish Congregational Church, commended the council in a recent letter for voting to restore the clock. “Nonetheless, I think moving the clock would be a devastating mistake,” Butler wrote.
The town council approved spending $35,000 from a special clock reserve account set aside to repair the clock. But the town council has yet to determine a future location for the clock, which was a gift to the town in 1868 by Toppan Robie. It was manufactured by the Howard Watch and Clock Company in Boston.
Robie, who was one of Gorham’s leading citizens, paid $500 for the clock and for 138 years it has been in the tower of the church. But in the past year, the clock has stopped and needs repair.
In May, Town Councilor Matt Robinson thought the clock should be located on town property if taxpayer money would be used to repair it. Robinson has since advocated a fundraiser to pay for clock repairs.
Butler fears the town council could decide to relocate the clock to the new municipal center. “Yes, First Parish is a church of a particular theological persuasion that is not shared by everyone in the community, but it remains inextricably linked historically to the town of Gorham in a unique way,” Butler wrote.
Butler said the clock was donated as a companion piece in the church tower to the Paul Revere Bell, also given by Robie.
Town Councilor Burleigh Loveitt, who heads the clock’s restoration committee, said last month that the town had contributed money to the church for the steeple to house the clock. The town owns the clock but the four faces and hands of the clock are part of the tower and owned by the church.
Brenda Caldwell, a church historian and member of the Gorham Historical Society who serves on the clock committee, made a presentation to the council this month. The committee recommended repairing the clock works but hold public meetings to hear proposals about where the clock would be placed. The committee also said it would look at costs of an alternative method of powering the hands on the clock faces on the steeple.
When the clock stopped, Butler contacted the Balzer Clock Company in Freeport, which he said is among the world’s best. The company said that the works could be relocated from the steeple to the church lobby where townspeople could view it. If the clock stayed with the church, it could be reconnected to peal the bell, Butler said.
Butler said that the histories of the town and church, which once served as the town’s meetinghouse, are intertwined. He advocated that the clock be placed in the church’s entryway, where it would be protected from the weather, after being repaired. “We will make every effort to have the church open and available to all of Gorham’s residents during regular business hours each day,” Butler wrote.
Butler hosts the third grade students each year, as they visit the church to learn about Gorham history. The clock would be a “prominent” part of the children tours, Butler said.
“It’s a wonderful bundle of brass and steel gears and levers mounted on a frame with ornate Queen Anne style legs. It was a mechanical marvel of its time and is now a rare and precious reminder of those times,” Butler wrote.
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