Freeport firm makes clock for Ark. tower

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Last summer, in town for a book signing, former President Clinton took a late-night drive through the University of Arkansas campus. He spotted Old Main and asked why the tower had no clock.

Clinton was told empty slots were left for a clock when the tower was built 130 years ago, but a timepiece was never added.

That inquiry by Clinton got the gears in motion, said Dave Gearhart, the university’s vice chancellor for university advancement.

A four-sided clock will be unveiled on Old Main’s south tower at a ceremony Oct. 27.

Balzer Family Clock Works of Freeport, Maine, is making the clock. The project is expected to cost about $160,000, of which the school has raised $140,000 privately so far.

The clock is to measure 7 feet tall and weigh about 700 pounds when it’s finished, Linda Balzer of the clock company said. It will be made of carbon composite to withstand the elements. The clock will have simulated carillon bells to ring hourly.

The four cast-bronze dials, one for each side of the tower, each will weigh about 300 pounds.

The inner workings of the clock will be on display behind glass in one of the tower’s classrooms, which will include a 1,000-pound bell that had been in Old Main’s north tower in 1879.

Balzer said display rooms often draw many curious viewers wanting to know how the clocks work.

“People just absolutely love watching them operate,” she said. “It’s going to be quite a drawing card.”

Old Main, originally known as University Hall, was completed in 1875.