County Courthouse to Install Clocks in Tower

For Flathead County, the precise time of 12:51 and 54 seconds on June 15, 2015 marks an auspicious occasion: At that exact time, the county received an $9,800 donation to buy a clock for the Old Courthouse’s tower.

What’s the big deal about having a clock in tower clearly meant for timepieces?

For starters, it’s the first time in the building’s 113-year history that there will be clocks in the clock towers.

Flathead County isn’t sure why clocks were never installed in the four holes at the top of the courthouse tower, county administrator Mike Pence said, but the idea of filling those spaces has been kicked around before.

“It came up during the courthouse remodel,” Pence said, “but our budget was pretty much gone; it was determined it was too expensive.”

The courthouse sits in a prime location at the south end of Kalispell’s Main Street, now surrounded by a the north and southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 93. It was built in 1902, but for some reason, the clocks were never installed.

Local historians at the Museum of Central School could only guess as to why the timepieces were left out of the tower. Bob O’Neil said he wasn’t sure about this particular case, but also that it wasn’t uncommon in the early 1900s to leave clocks out of towers that were not on city halls.

“Clocks were not unusual, but they were not required,” O’Neil said.

The June donation, unanimously accepted by the Flathead County Commission, will allow Flathead County to buy the clock from Americlock, Inc., a Ballwin, Missouri-based company specializing in large tower clocks.

Pence said the clock should be ready for shipment in four to five weeks, and the price includes installation. The faces will be on the north and south ends of the tower.

Until the clocks, the only item displayed in the courthouse tower in recent years has been a lit-up Christmas tree. In 2011, the $2.7 million renovation at the courthouse brought back much of the building’s former glory, but left the tower empty.