The Hess Clock Tower
The Hess Clock is a Canadiana Tower Clock, one of only three tower clocks in Canada still operating as it was built to run.
STORY BY AINSLIE WILLOCK {As seen in the Bayfield Breeze}
It is quite amazing how multi-talented the early pioneers were. George Hess was born in the Wurttemberg region of Germany (Black Forest), in 1837. He immigrated to Zurich, ON, in 1856. His skills were many and varied. They could be listed as: master carpenter, clock and watchmaker and repairer, self-taught architect, jeweler, engraver, photographer, telegraph operator and inventor as well as a weather reporter for the Meteorological Association in Toronto.
Hess taught himself to be an architect in order to design St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, built in 1878. What a splendid job he did outside and inside. But, he had more that he wanted to design, build and give to Zurich’s landmark building, a three-sided clock.
According to Alma Westlake, a member of the restoration committee and parishioner, “Our tower clock is unique because it is truly Canadian – made in Canada, by a Canadian, of Canadian material and because it is still operating in its original manner at the age of 137 years.”
The clock is still wound once a week.
Westlake said, “It’s truly a village clock because the sound of the bell, which rings hourly, is missed when it’s not working.”
Hess designed and built three other three-sided clocks. One is in Tavistock’s St. Sebastical Lutheran Church. It was replaced with an electric clock in 2003. And the third can be found in the Exeter Town Hall, although dismantled the mechanisms are displayed in the lobby.
According to clock historian, Graham Jones, Hess’ three-sided clocks are three of seven clocks in Canada considered to be “Canadiana” tower clocks, made in Canada, prior to the 20th Century. Most early clocks were imported to Canada from the U.S. or Europe. Jones believes this was because, “the heavy foundry equipment needed to cast the parts for a tower clock, and the large machinery for wheel cutting were simply not available.”
Using parts and tools found locally, Hess cobbled together a precision timepiece using a ‘primitive’ wood frame, and cast iron gears. It’s in the clock’s very primitive assembly where one finds his creative genius. Bits of odd sized pieces of metal randomly stacked in a container acting as a clock weight can be seen. However rudimentary, it operates within seconds of the correct time.
In 1888, Hess received patent #30,429 for his tower clock. In 1889, he received patent #32,485 for the electric clock he invented four years previous. The original copy of this patent is in the Huron County Museum in Goderich and the Zurich Church also has a copy.
Hess died early at the age of 53 years and 8 months. A shard of glass coated in sulphuric acid cut his finger right to the bone. He died six days later from blood poisoning. He was buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, on June 19, 1891. Gone but not forgotten through the hands of time.
Today’s Clock Keeper, Doug Thiel winds the clock weekly.
The original gears were hand carved from wood, today some of the gears have been replaced with metal pieces.
Over the years, beginning in 1886, all of the clock keepers have signed their names on the door to the clock tower. Doug Thiel has yet to add his name.
