Campaign Aims to Get Well-Known Clock Some TLC
(Image courtesy of Indiana Landmarks/ Lee Mandrell)
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Landmarks has launched a campaign to fund restoration of an iconic clock in downtown Indianapolis. The organization says the L. S. Ayres clock, which is mounted on the side of the Carson Pirie Scott department store, needs around $10,000 worth of work to get it running.
Indiana Landmarks is also looking to raise an additional $10,000 to set aside as a long-term maintenance fund. Arthur Bohn of the Vonnegut and Bohn architecture firm designed the 10,000-pound time piece in the mid-1930s. It has four faces and is mounted 29 feet above the southwest corner of Washington and Meridian streets.
Organizers are trying to raise the money in less than a month — November 7 — in order to complete the restoration in time for the traditional, annual appearance of a small cherub statue on the clock the day before Thanksgiving.
Indiana Landmarks President Marsh Davis says "in the beginning, the clock was a promotional tool for the department store, but across the decades it has assumed a much broader significance. And when the cherub comes to perch on the clock on Thanksgiving eve – an annual holiday tradition since 1947 – we want to make sure he knows when to arrive."
Smith’s Bell and Clock Co. will perform the work, which is expected to include new movements, a controller, properly balanced hands and a replacement for one side of the clock.
You can connect to more about making a donation by clicking here.