Rising above downtown Marysville is a brick clock tower on an apartment building. For much of its 100-year history, the clock has given schoolchildren and others the time, day and night, chiming every 30 minutes.
But over time, and with the rise of digital clocks, Marysville’s clock tower fell into disrepair as those able to repair the mechanisms became few and far between. At least until a few years ago, when locals restored the clock to working order and rededicated it to the World War I soldiers it had been built to honor.
“The clock wasn’t dedicated until 1921, so we decided to do that this year,” said Denise Chubb, owner of the schoolhouse apartment building, and a member of the Marysville-Rye Historical Society.
The historical society, Chubb and others began talking about rededicating the clock tower in 2020, 100 years after it was built and a year after the clock was returned to working order, Chubb said. Then COVID-19 hit, and everything got delayed, but that worked out because of the original dedication date.
On Oct. 2, Chubb, residents, historical society members, the VFW post, and borough officials rededicated the clock tower to all the men and women who helped in winning World War I during a sunny Saturday ceremony.
The two-story brick building at 201 Maple Ave. was built in the early 1900s as the third school building for Marysville, which was growing due to its proximity to Harrisburg and the railroad, said Linda Fahnestock, historical society secretary. It housed various grades for much of its history, but eventually was replaced by newer schools.
The tower and its clock were additions made to the school by the Civic Club of Marysville in the years after the “Great War” ended. Civic Clubs all over the U.S. were active in promoting health and welfare programs of communities, and during U.S. involvement in World War I (1917-1918) the clubs also supported the war efforts.
“Once it had been won, their efforts turned toward memorials for those who sacrificed,” Fahnestock said, noting the Civic Clubs were very good at raising money for any project.
Through yard sales, indigo sales and other such fundraisers, they raised enough money to build the tower above the school’s staircase, she said.
Known as the “Victory Clock,” the civic club also had planted trees at the school to honor the three men from Marysville who died in the war: Blaine Barshinger, Howard Spidel and James Brightbill. When built it was only the second clock tower in Perry County after the one atop of the county courthouse in New Bloomfield.
In 1972, Chubb’s parents Jim and Ruth Scholl owned the building and converted it to apartments, a common trend that has helped preserve older buildings in many communities around the U.S.
“I used to help my dad fix things around the apartments,” Chubb said.
She took over management of the building in 2002 and was able to raise $25,000 in 2007 to restore the clock to working order. This time around, pizza kits were sold, she said. Chubb also took out a mortgage to pay for repairs.
Not only did the clock again tell time, but Chubb got another surprise.
“I never heard it ringing before,” she said of the initial repairs.
Over time, the clock started to wear down again, she said. Parts were difficult to come by and so were knowledgeable people to fix such time pieces. Some of the faces didn’t tell the correct time, and the bells were off, ringing the wrong number of times at the wrong hours. And at least one person who had tried to fix things made it worse, she said.
“I was very, very nervous about anyone touching the clock,” Chubb said.
In 2019, a fellow historian saw Chubb’s post on Facebook about the clock and offered to help. Just so happens, Karl Zimmerman of Marysville is also a skilled clock maintenance person. And he had fond memories of the clock tower.
“When we were kids, we would walk toward the tower and it would light up at night,” Zimmerman remembered.
He formerly worked for Simplex, a company that produced time-punch clocks for businesses, factories and schools. For 31 years, he worked in master clock maintenance at schools in Dauphin and Perry counties, in addition to other clocks.
“I used to take care of the clock on the hill in Hershey and the clock in the square in Lititz,” Zimmerman said.
The Victory Clock had been wound by hand using a crank until 1930, he said. After that an electric motor was added to control the time. That motor needed to be fixed before the clock could work again. Zimmerman was able to get Heim Electric in Harrisburg to fix it.
“Now it holds perfect time,” Zimmerman said.
Chubb credited Zimmerman with helping to raise money to fix the clock. Local businesses and organizations helped fund the repairs, too, including Zeiderelli’s, Barrick Homes, Shalonis Funeral Home, and the Marysville Lady Lions.
Zimmerman then did much of the other work himself, such as rebuilding the bell mechanism that had been disassembled when it started chiming the wrong times.
“I kept adjusting and adjusting until I got it correct,” Zimmerman said.
And he did it without taking payment for the work. For Zimmerman, it was more important to revive a part of the town’s history that also is a memorial to soldiers from last century.
“I don’t want anything,” he said. “I went to school here, and I live here.”
The world marked the 100th anniversary of World War I’s end just three years ago, and each Nov. 11, Veterans Day in the U.S. marks the original armistice.
“It’s important that we don’t forget about the effort and sacrifice of the soldiers in World War I,” Fahnestock said.
And of course, all of this comes as Perry County celebrates its bicentennial, all-be-it a year late due to the pandemic.
Jim T. Ryan can be reached via email at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com
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