News : Benton County Courthouse Clock to return to the courthouse June 9

The courthouse will soon be able to tell you the time at a glance and by listening. The clock has been restored by Mechanical Watch Supply of Minneapolis. The company specializes in restoring of tower clocks across America. With over 30 years of experience, the company is a leader in the industry.

In the case of the Benton County courthouse clock, many of the parts had to be recreated and the rest refurbished. Benton County Attorney Ray Lough said. "There remains some miscellaneous things to refurbish, such as the hands, a winding mechanism, and other small pieces."

Mechanical Watch Supply says that it "maintains and supplies one of the world's largest inventories of original and historically accurate restoration parts." They have developed "vast network of contacts with other tower clock enthusiasts throughout the United States and Europe, providing the company with in-depth knowledge of traditional and contemporary tower clocks and systems." The company has restored clocks across the country. The owner himself is personally restoring our courthouse clock.

Lough said, "After several years of painstaking repairs, the courthouse clock is on its way back to Vinton.  Mechanical Watch Supply out of Minneapolis, Minnesota notified Benton County attorney, Ray Lough, that the clock repairs have been completed and the clock will be brought to Vinton on June 8th. 

The clock will be placed on display on the first floor of the courthouse.  The public can come and get a close-up view of the clock between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm on Monday, June 9th.  After the public has had a chance to view the clock, it will be disassembled (on Tuesday the 10th) and carried one piece at a time to the bell tower where it will be reassembled. The plan is to have the clock fully reassembled and operational on Thursday, June 19th.  This date is significant as it is the anniversary of the clock's donation. 

The Benton County supervisors encourage the public to come see this beautiful machine.

It's anticipated that it will take a week to move it to the tower and reassemble it.

History

The cornerstone was laid for the courthouse on October 14, 1905 with a grand total for the structure being $106,000. The structure was designed by Bell and Dettweller out of Minneapolis and built by George Rickets and Sons.

The clock was donated to the courthouse on June 19, 1906, 119 years ago and it will be restarted on the same date this year. Original reports say that the tower houses a 1,500 pound bell that sounds a hearty Bb notifying citizens of the hour.

The clock itself has had a history. Bur first a little about the man who made this possible.

In 1906, Paul Correll donated the clock to the county and a special tower was created just to house the clock. In a publication from 1910, it says that Correll was born in 1828 in Pennsylvania, and lived there until he was 25. "He left home with scant means, indeed, not sufficient for expense money." He found work in a store, and clerked there five years, until 1853, when he came west to Chicago. There he was employed as clerk in Potter Palmer's store, and at the end of five years of service, when he resigned, he was at the head of the retail department. From Chicago he came in 1860 to Vinton, Iowa, to take possession of a general store which had already been rented for him. He carried a stock of dry goods, boots and shoes, and sold in one year no less than sixty-five thousand dollars worth of goods, which in those days in a small town and a new country was considered an immense business. Closing out the mercantile business, he turned his attention to farming and dealing in stock, buying, feeding and shipping. He had land in Big Grove and Taylor townships, at one time owning and operating about a thousand acres, and this business he continued for a number of years. Of late years, however, banking has claimed his attention, and he has disposed of his land holdings, also his real estate in Vinton, and has given a large amount of property to his nephews and nieces here and in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Correll has been a loyal Republican from the time he voted for John C. Fremont up to the present. He has never missed a national election and rarely has been absent from the polls at county and state elections. When a. young man, in Pennsylvania, he joined the Reformed church. As showing something of the public spirit and generous nature of Mr. Correll, we record that the court house clock and bell, placed in their position at a cost of two thousand dollars, were a gift from him."

He wrapped up his career as the president of the State Bank of Vinton. 

When the clock was installed, it controlled all of the clocks in the courthouse. All clocks in the building were wired directly to the clock in the tower until...

1952, when the clock was changed over from "wet cell batteries" to electric motors. This put the clock out of sorts and the custodian, a man named Peterson, wrote to the company for advice to correct the issue. The "irregular city power" was blamed for disrupting the accuracy of the clock. At the time the power would increase or decrease affecting the timing kept on the clock, so it was no longer accurate. All of the clocks in the courthouse had to be changed to electric clocks, independent of the tower clock.

That worked until...

June 26, 1959 - It was reported that at midnight on the 25th it sounded the 12 strikes but then continued on and on and on. Vernon Barkhurst got out of bed, got dressed, went to the courthouse and climbed into the tower to stop the noise. The next day, convinced after some "oiling and tinkering" that it was fixed, he started the clock at noon. It ran fine all day. Until midnight again. So again, at midnight he made a return trip to the tower to stop the noise.He then sent a letter via airmail to the makers of the clock, Tower Clock Service Company in Springfield.

In 1960, a prank was pulled on the clock, the hands were removed. It is guessed that three or four kids climbed the 112 feet on top of the courthouse and removed them. They were later returned, but no one admitted to the "hand off."

In 2009, according to county minutes, the clock was not working again and upgrades to an atomic clock were discussed. 2014 brought an agreement for another clock company to remove and repair the clock returning it in October of that year, in December of that year, fundraising was still underway. The clock was finally repaired and returned to the courthouse in August of 2015 by the J.J. Smith's Bell and Clock Company.

From 2015 until May of 2017 a maintenance agreement was drawn up with the Bell and Clock Company for two visits per year. A microphone, amplifier and LED lights were approved for the clock.

September 2021 brought more issues with the clock. It wasn't keeping the correct time. The Supervisors gave approval for an estimate for repairs. December 2021 Mechanical Watch Supply looked at the clock, suggested it wasn't safe to be running, so it was shut off. In February 2022 the Supervisors approved repairing the clock with grounds funds.

In June 2022 the clock was in Minneapolis being repaired again and expected to be returned in the spring of 2023. In the fall of 2024 it was anticipated that the clock would be returned by December of 2024. Throughout the process of returning the clock, several parts had to be recreated to make it possible. 

Be sure to come out and view the clock as we celebrate its return…again on June 9th, 2025!

History of Benton County, Iowa; 1910