Meet the man who maintains the courthouse clock in Jackson

Southeast Missouri native Scott McDowell is the man who keeps correct time and volunteers his to make sure the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock � originally installed in 1921 � is in working condition year-round, including the weekend daylight saving time starts.

Scott McDowell explains how the bell chimes in the bell tower of Cape Girardeau County Courthouse on Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

For McDowell, the adventure began when he was involved with the restoration of the Jackson train 30 years ago.

�Robert Daughtry had retired and got the clock running. But his legs were giving out, so he would come down and get me, and I�d come up here and help with things. He just liked having somebody around,� McDowell said. �When his legs did give out, which couldn�t have been three or four years later, I took over [the clock maintenance].�

The bell of the Cape Girardeau Country Courthouse clock in its bell tower is seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

The chime heard twice an hour from atop the courthouse � set that way to reduce the probability of the clock getting �stuck� � is operated by a hammer, he said.

McDowell�s main clock objective is to �just keep it running,� he said.

The clock, as seen from the outside, of the Cape Girardeau Country Courthouse on Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�I�m not responsible anymore, I�m fired,� McDowell said jokingly. �I got fired, so I just [take care of it]. ... For like, 25 years they paid me an hour a month, which I didn�t want. But they wanted me to have insurance,� McDowell said. �So they paid me one hour each month to work on the clock and to keep it running. They had done it with Mr. Daughtry too, to have insurance.�

McDowell said the maintenance guy from the county approached him and said, �You gotta do this as a private contractor. We don�t want you as an employee.�

The internal workings of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock are seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�I said I didn�t want to be an employee. I�ll do it for nothing,� McDowell said. �He said, �Oh, no. You have to do this.� So for one year, I gave them a bill for around $200, and I�ve never done it since. I just do it because I want to do it.�

The inner workings are quite complex for a clock nearly 100 years old. A pendulum with a large iron ball that can be seen through a makeshift Plexiglas window frame McDowell made, along with many of the other similar components still used in clocks and wristwatches today, just in greater scale.

Scott McDowell stands inside the clock tower next to the internal workings of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�The wind would shake it enough to give it trouble,� McDowell said. �But that�s maybe a 10-inch iron ball, probably pretty heavy.�

When Daugherty died, McDowell had a plaque made, now posted near the clock�s inner workings.

Scott McDowell lifts up the top to a concave stained glass feature in the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse on Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�His kids came up here all at once when they were in town for the funeral,� McDowell said.

According to McDowell, when John Siemer � known for Siemer�s Hardware � came to town, the clock wasn�t in working order.

The internal workings of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock are seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�No one had messed with it for years,� McDowell said. �So I believe he put in this automatic winding.�

Before the days of automatic winding, McDowell said someone was responsible for �cranking,� the clock to wind it.

The internal workings of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock are seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�It�s not that hard to do, but somebody had to do it,� McDowell said.

Siemer installed the clock delays, McDowell said, because �there was something about if they�re winding while it was chiming, it would throw the clock off.�

The internal workings of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse clock are seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�So Mr. Daugherty, who was a pretty smart man, put this stuff in, and I�ve never had an issue with it. It�s always worked,� McDowell said. �They�re delays, for when the clock needs to be wound; ... it�s never broken. [Daugherty] did a good job of it.�

McDowell said about all he has to do for maintenance is add oil when needed. He also said the clock itself used to be very oily, �lathered up,� before he thoroughly degreased it.

The geological marker of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in seen Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

McDowell said the time tends to vary when the weather is unstable.

�In the winter it runs fast, in the summer it runs slower,� McDowell said. �And I assume that�s because of the pendulum. In the winter, that would get shorter, and in the summer it would be longer; it expands. Like right now, it�s 2 minutes slow. ... But since I�ll be here Monday, I�m not going to do anything to it.�

Scott McDowell leaves the bell tower of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse after checking on the clock Friday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

Regarding daylight saving time starting this weekend, McDowell said he used to correct the time on Saturdays, but had to have a deputy accompany him, which was inconvenient. Now he corrects the time the day after daylight saving goes into effect.

In the spring, McDowell said he simply moves the time forward, but in order to move the time backward, he said the clock must be turned off for an hour in order to compensate for the time change, since it cannot go in reverse.

Near the clock�s inner workings, there is a framed page titled �Directions for the Care of a Tower Clock,� from The E. Howard Clock Co., manufacturer of clocks in New York, Boston and Chicago at the time of the install.

The current courthouse dates back to 1908, which was built to replace the original courthouse erected in 1872. The first clock, however, wasn�t installed until around 1913 in the current courthouse, according to Southeast Missourian files. It featured dials made of ground glass, �strong electric lights� and a heavy sledgehammer. But on April 25, 1921, that clock � the one seen today � was installed, replacing the previous due to the complaints of the Rev. Henry Idel of Appleton, Missouri, saying �it never kept perfect time.�

Henry Ueleke, a local jeweler at the time, obtained permission in 1920 to install the clock in the new courthouse to replace the inferior one. The new timepiece was �guaranteed in the company furnishing it that it will keep perfect time and will also be much easier to take care of, not requiring winding so often,� according to a Southeast Missourian story dated Nov. 11, 1920.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

Pertinent address:

100 Court St., Jackson, Mo.