Starting Saturday, time will no longer stand still in Hollidaysburg. That’s because the clocktower and bell at the Blair County Courthouse are being restored after nearly two decades.
Nick Burket is Blair County’s facilities director and one of the people helping with the restoration.
The entrance to the clocktower is behind a chained-off “employees only” area. There’s a reason the general public isn’t allowed in. Burket gave a disclaimer before giving a tour.
“If you would happen to hurt yourself or fall or anything like that, the county is not liable," Burket said. "You’re doing this of your own free will."
Past a door in the hallway is a set of steep stairs and then a series of six ladders, which gradually narrow. Several of the rooms are dark with little to no lighting.
Eventually, we arrived at the bell.
“The bell’s from West Troy, New York, 1876," Burket said. "It did have that hand striker on it, as well as a pull rope.”
As part of the restoration effort, Burket said they took off the broken hand striker and replaced it with an electronic one. It will automatically ring the bell every hour between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
This high up, you can hear the birds that have made their home in parts of the clocktower. Burket said the holes in the clocktower were originally for messenger pigeons.
“But at the time, it was a redundant technology, because by that point, telegram had taken over and other things like that," Burket said. "So it was something the original builders incorporated, but it was something that was never really used.”
Burket said they’re still working on renovating the clocktower and that the current birds will eventually be evicted when the “dovecotes” are removed. That’s a structure meant to house pigeons or doves.
Climbing up one last wooden ladder leads to four clock faces, which are visible outside of the courthouse. The glass faces are original, from the building’s construction in 1876.
“But if you look on the inside of this, you can see where there’s gears here that run the minute and hour hand," Burket said. "Now, back in the ‘70s they did do a bit of a restoration.”
There was another restoration effort at the Blair County Courthouse in 2015, but the focus was on “essential restoration,” including repairs to damaged roofs, replacing the HVAC system, and other major repairs to court rooms.
That work was funded by a state grant, with $80,000 coming from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. It didn’t include the clocktower.
“This was considered a non-essential item and they were running out of grant money," Burket said.
Burket said the American Legion in Hollidaysburg approached the county last year about restoring the clocktower.
“It’s been on our radar for years," Burket said.
Samuel Dunkle is the one who came up with the idea to restore the clocktower in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
Dunkle is the district court administrator at the Blair County Court of Common Pleas, the commander of the American Legion Post 516 in Hollidaysburg and a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who left the area for a few decades while serving and working in the federal government. When he came back, he said he was surprised the clocktower didn't work anymore.
“When I was in high school — last century — the clock was working and so was the bell," Dunkle said. "And it was, you know, something you took for granted.”
Dunkle said he set a goal at the beginning of this year to raise $75,000 to repair the clocktower. He said they sent letters to local businesses and residents asking for help.
“We are above $100,000 dollars," Dunkle said.
Dunkle said all of the money will go toward restoration work that still needs to be done, like replacing the glass clock faces and the wooden hands. He said they also plan to add lights inside and outside the clocktower.
For now, Dunkle said the first phase of the project is complete, meaning people will hear the bell ring and see the clocks run for the first time since about 2005 at a ceremony on Saturday.
“We have a brass quintet," Dunkle said. "They’re going to play several patriotic songs before the ceremony, and during the ceremony they will play the national anthem, the Battle Hymn of the Republic and God Bless America.”
Dunkle said Senior Judge Jolene Kopriva will speak at the event about the courthouse’s history. Dave Kessling, who chairs the Blair County Commissioners, will share their plans to maintain the courthouse in the future.
The ceremony starts at 9:45 a.m. outside of the Blair County Courthouse on Saturday, the 4th of July.
