A proud past reflected in town hall
The George A Clark town hall is a Paisley pattern of perfection in a superb setting.
The elegant edifice is especially beautiful in springtime when pink and white cherry blossom mantles the trees while golden carpets of daffodils gild nearby Paisley Abbey graveyard.
Viewed across the River Cart from flower-festooned Dunn Square, the graceful building, with its Italianate architecture, awe-inspiring clock and bell towers, mullioned windows and balustraded balcony, is a stunning spectacle.
The building is equally imposing from the east, with its colonnaded portals and classical, triangular pediment facing towards the orient, source of the Masonic wisdom of its architects and symbol of dawn, resurrection and new life.
Opened in January 30, 1882, Paisley Town Hall commemorates George Aitken Clark of the renowned J & J Clark threadmanufacturing family who founded Paisley’s world-famous Anchor Mills.
George’s ancestors were farming folk from Dykebar. Around 1753, James Clark moved to Paisley and set up as a weaver in
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Cotton Street.
Sons James Jnr and John expanded the business. Clark’s became one of the biggest thread-manufacturers in the world before amalgamating with neighbours J & P Coats in 1896.
The company’s massive Atlantic and Pacific Mills at Seedhill were wonders of industrial ingenuity.
The honour of pulling the lever which triggered the machinery at the Atlantic Mill in 1872 fell to George Aitken Clark who sailed specially to Paisley from the United States for the ceremony.
George was born in Paisley on August 29, 1824.
His family lived at Chapel House and
Kilnside House in the East End.
His first job was with Kerr and Company in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada.
He returned to Paisley and established Linside Mill in 1854.
After joining the family firm, he sailed to Newark, New Jersey, USA, to establish a Clark and Kerr importing house.
He died in Newark on February
13, 1873, aged 49, and was buried in Paisley. He bequeathed £20,000 for the construction of the town hall which bears his name. The building cost an estimated £150,000.
Anchor Mills closed in 1993 but their memory is immortalised in the George A Clark Town Hall which testifies to one of the proudest periods of Paisley’s history.