When passing through the center of town, you will now see, after 25 years, the correct time on Ashland’s downtown fire station clock.
“The clock was fixed on site,” Carl Hakansson explained. Hakansson is the chair of the Board of Selectmen, a longtime resident, and helped to initiate the repair. “The timer, motor, and lights were replaced; the gears are still original. They will need to be repaired sometime in the future.”
Electric Time Company, Inc. of Medfield did the repair.
Hakansson said he and others heard mostly from out-of-towners who commented on the clock in the center of town—a town known for the invention of the electric clock—that it was not working.
“What better way to help with downtown revitalization than to fix the iconic clock,” Hakansson said.
In 2013, the Ashland Historical Commission restored two clocks, each 7 feet in diameter, on top of the Ashland Technology Center, formally called the Warren Telechron Co., at 150 Homer Ave. The clocks can be seen from the street as well as by thousands of people who ride the trains.
The project emerged in early 2012 when residents gathered to discuss how to revitalize downtown Ashland. “As a way to put Ashland ‘back on the map,’ longtime resident Jim Hanna suggested getting the Telechron building clocks working again,” Hakansson recalled.
Glenn Rigby, then chair of the Historical Commission, scoped out the project, worked with the building owner, and applied for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for the work. Electric Time Company dismantled the clocks and brought them to their facility for repair.
Other clocks in town had been repaired over the years: one in Montenegro Square and one at the Warren School. The repair of the Telechron factory clocks was noteworthy because the commission worked with a private business owner.
“Henry Warren’s Telechron clocks were used worldwide. They were some of the best electric clocks ever. They are 70-80 years old, and still running and keeping good time,” Cliff Wilson, president of the Ashland Historical Society, said.
The Historical Society, located at 2 Myrtle St., has a collection of around 100-150 different Telechron clocks, all manufactured in Ashland.
Ashland resident Henry Ellis Warren (1872-1957) held 135 patents. He was the inventor of the electric clock and the founder of the Warren Clock Company in Ashland in 1912. The company, later called the Warren Telechron Co., manufactured the clocks.
“Warren, who worked out of a shop on his land, now Warren Woods, did so much for Ashland. He played many active roles in town. Without Henry Warren, we wouldn’t have Stone Park and the town forest. Because of him, thousands of people were employed here,” Wilson said.
In 1927, with only 2,300 town residents, the Telechron Co. had 1,500 employees.
Warren founded the Warren Telechron Company in 1912, later acquired by General Electric in 1943, to manufacture an electric clock that was synchronous to the power supplied by the electric utility companies. After more than ten years, Warren developed the Warren Master Clock in 1916, which made synchronous electric clocks possible by keeping alternating current flowing from power plants at a consistent 60 cycles per second. Within a decade, the electric clock revolutionized timekeeping. By the mid-1920s, Telechron clocks were in use by 20 million people.
“The restoration served several purposes: the town got back clocks that work; it helps to foster pride in being ‘Clock Town;’ and thousands of people coming through Ashland on the train see them,” Wilson said. “Also, working with local business owners on this kind of town project is a positive thing. Businesses will be attracted to a town that is working to improve conditions. People don’t realize, that to attract business, it might be better to make the town attractive than to put up a building.”
The final phase of the three-year Telechron factory building clock and sign project was completed in February 2016, with the installation of the vintage, LED-illuminated sign. The project was done in three phases over several years.
To learn more, visit:
Steve Leacu, Ashland
Historical Society, February 2012: www.ashlandhistsociety.com/Pages/TheMasterofTime.aspx
YouTube video, dismantling the clocks for repair: http://tinyurl.com/oz2w3e7
Warren Conference Center & Inn: www.warrencenter.com/index.cfm/page/History-of-Henry-Warren/pid/10294