Courthouse clock in Pottsville has kept time for 131 years
POTTSVILLE — In the clock tower above the Schuylkill County Courthouse, there’s a ticking sound that’s been ongoing for 131 years.
Nine stories up, sealed inside an enclosure that resembles a backyard shed, few have seen or heard the incessant ticking of the courthouse clock.
Yet, its magnificent, handcrafted, brass inner workings have been on the job since Benjamin Harrison was president and Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
The clock, a mechanical device made by E. Howard & Co., of Boston, works pretty much by itself.
But twice a year, at the beginning and end of daylight saving time, the massive wooden hands on the four-sided clock overlooking Pottsville must be adjusted.
On Friday afternoon, well in advance of the 2 a.m. Sunday time change, two courthouse workers pushed the time ahead an hour. It’s done in advance because the courthouse is closed over the weekend.
Stephen Sedesse, a courthouse electrician, released a control on a gear that controls the hour hand and advanced it one hour. A small clock face on the apparatus allows him to judge how much to advance the gear.
“This is the heart and soul of the clock,” Sedesse said, standing near the room-sized clockworks.
The works are driven by an immense pendulum that descends to the floor below the clock.
Kevin Mahall, county public works director, explained the weights on the pendulum are automatically reset after they wind down.
Good thing, because the inner workings are nine stories above the courthouse main floor. The elevator only goes to the fifth floor, and the remaining stories must be accessed by a series of steep wooden stairways.
Mahall, who’s been on the job for only several months, was amazed by the intricacy of the clock’s inner workings.
“You think of all the technology we have today,” he said, “but what they had back in the day was amazing.”
In fall, when daylight saving time ends and the time must be set back an hour, Mahall simply stops the pendulum for one hour, then restarts it.
Research by Peter Yasenchak, former executive director of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, indicated the clock was set in motion at 5:15 p.m. on March 24, 1891. It cost $1,553 and was ordered through W. Mortimer jewelry store in Pottsville.
The Schuylkill County Courthouse was dedicated on Sept. 3, 1891, according to an item in the Pottsville Republican. It replaced a previous courthouse behind the present structure.