Yellow Pages
A group of machinery buffs, historians and metal workers gathered in front of the Brown Lantern July 2 to celebrate a crowning achievement — the placement of a replica finial atop the 103-year-old Leadbetter street clock.
“I think the result was excellent. It came out better than we expected,” said Anacortes Museum Foundation President Tom Thompson.
Replacing the finial was a seven-year project that involved detectives, fundraisers, artists and craftsmen.
The clock’s original ornate iron finial has been missing for decades. The museum has an old photo in which the old top can be seen, but the image was too blurry to use as a blueprint, so the restoration team began searching for similar clocks in the region.
Antique machinery buff Frank Orr said he found such a clock in front of the Lakeway Cafe in Seattle, but the owner would not allow the top piece to be removed for impressions, or for anyone to climb the clock.
“They wouldn’t let us up,” he said. “Now that clock is gone.”
Thompson said Bob Mortenson of Mortenson Signs of Mount Vernon created a design based on photographs of that clock and others. Doug Booth hand carved a piece out of heavy foam for casting. Anacortes Brass Works owner Glen Veal and artist and welder Brad Brown cast and built the piece at a reduced rate.
“Glen donated his time. He had to pay his founder,” Orr said.
Veal also got the preservationists a deal on the metal. The Anacortes Noon Kiwanis Club provided the bulk of the funding, about $3,000, Thompson said.
Past and present Anacortes Museum directors didn’t let the project slide.
“Garry Cline was instrumental in keeping it moving forward. He started the ball rolling,” Thompson said. “Steve (Oakley) has been helpful in finishing the project.”
Mechanical engineer Bill Larson and mechanical wizard Orr provided expert advice and support, Thompson said.
The clock dates back to about 1905. Its mechanism and case were built by Joseph Mayer of Seattle and it probably came to Anacortes in the 1920s, purchased by building owner W.V. Wells or by J.C. Leadbetter, a local jeweler and optician. Leadbetter’s name was painted on the face and it was placed outside his shop. Old advertisements boast of his jewelry store at 410 Commercial Ave., “at the sign of the silver clock.”
When the city put in new streets and sidewalks downtown about 30 years ago, the clock was stored on its side behind the building, then eventually put back in place. In 1982, Bill and John Wells, sons of W.V. Wells, donated it to the Anacortes Museum.
Local merchants launched a drive to restore the timepiece in 1994, with a plea to “save the clock on our block.” Enough money was raised to buy parts, and volunteer William Harlan of Seattle performed conservation work.
The clock’s most recent restoration was in 2000. It had remained rusty and thickly coated with dark brown paint until 1999, when a moving truck backed into it and damaged the face. The insurance payment from the accident provided partial funding for a restoration. The rest of the work was funded by the Noon Kiwanis Club, through a donation in honor of lifetime club member W.V. Wells Jr., and the Anacortes Museum Foundation.
The landmark was taken down again in 2004 for installation of new sidewalks. After 10 months in storage at Flounder Bay Boat Lumber, it was put back in place by Orr, Jack Richardson and Cline.
Thompson said Cline and others were sticklers for authenticity in the finial project.
“They wanted it to be historically correct. That was paramount in the eyes of Garry and Steve,” he said.
Thompson said he was surprised how small the finial seems from a distance.
“It looks so high and far away. The project could easily have been dropped along the wayside,” he said.
He said the craftsmanship of the new piece is even better than that of an original clock, which would have been more coarsely fabricated.
“This turned out to be more of a work of art,” he said. “They were all artists that were involved. That’s what made it work.”
