Published: August 04, 2008 10:55 pm         

Cleaning their clocks: Woodrow Wilson timepiece gets a facelift

TERRE HAUTE — Traffic along South 25th Street slowed ever so slightly Monday morning so drivers could watch as a 90-foot lift carrying a massive clock rose through the air to place the clock in its rightful place: in the tower of Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

The clock is one of four that have been undergoing cleaning and restoration throughout the summer. The cast iron clocks have been part of the iconography of the school since it was built in 1926. Each weighs about 500 pounds.

Max Helton, owner of Apex Masonry in Terre Haute, has been involved in much of the process since the clocks were taken down in early June.

Helton said the clocks had to be restored because time and weather had taken their toll on the pieces. The stone around the clocks had become etched and stained from corroding iron, Helton said. The stone had to be cleaned before the clocks could go back in.

Before the restoration, the clocks were protected by plastic glass covers, and water was able to get in behind them, causing the corrosion, Helton said.

SDR Coatings Inc. of Clinton did the rewelding, sandblasting, cleaning and repainting of the clocks, according to Helton.

Dean Maloney of SDR was on-site Monday as crews inside the tower and on the crane carefully situated the clock in place, and bolted it to the stone. He explained that each clock is actually made of eight connected pieces, and that it took SDR two weeks to sandblast and repaint the pieces.

Mytron Lisby, director of secondary education for the Vigo County School Corp., has been coordinating the project. He said it had been planned in this year’s capital project funds budget.

The new clocks will have two pieces of laminated glass with white laminate in between to help protect the clocks from the weather, Helton said.

Sharon Pitts, principal of Woodrow Wilson, said she was not sure when the clocks last had been cleaned. The entire building underwent renovation in 1981, she said.

Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.