Search Results for: wellesley square clock

Wellesley Square clock is alive and ticking

January 12, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

If you’ve been missing the Wellesley Square street clock, which the town sent out for repairs late last year, it’s time to take a look at the newly reinstalled and restored beauty. An Electric Time Co. truck rolled into town early this morning with the two-dial street clock crated and secured in the back of Medfield business’ vehicle. Between David Cintolo, the venerable company’s go-to guy for installations all over the region, and the Wellesley Department of Public Works crew members, the 15-foot cast aluminum clock was put in place in just over an hour.

(Thanks to Wellesley DPW’s Kevin Collins for the swell video.)

The clock looks fabulous and refreshed after its several months at the spa (as would we all with the kind of pampering such time would allow.) For its spa treatments the clock was stripped down, sandblasted, painted, and had certain parts replaced and upgraded (sounds like heaven).

Wellesley Square clock — The over 15-foot clock has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998.

Fun facts about Roman numeral IIII

Back when I was in elementary school, Roman numerals were drilled into me as efficiently as the multiplication tables. One thing I thought I knew for sure was that 1 = I; 2 = II; 3= III; and, wait for it, 4= IV.

Behold, the Wellesley Square clock expresses 4 as IIII. Was this a case of a paint job gone awry?

Nope.

According to Electric Time Clock’s website, “There does not seem to be a definitive reason why the number four is represented by IIII rather than IV, but it is how the dials on tower clocks have been done for centuries.”

It goes on to say that possible reasons include IV was commonly used to notate the Roman god Jupiter (in Latin, Ivpiter), and the numeral IIII was used to differentiate between the lowly number and the exalted god; visually, IIII forms better symmetry with the VIII on the other side of the clock, as well as creating radial symmetry in that only I appears in the first four hours, V only appears in the second four hours, and X only appears in the last four hours; IV is oddly positioned and difficult to read from the normal angle where four appears; and/or Romans simply preferred IIII as they largely avoided subtraction.

Thank you Swellesley Report supporters & on to Year Sweet 16

Wellesley Square clock coming back

January 9, 2021 by Bob Brown 4 Comments

The Wellesley Square two-dial street clock, which went into the shop four months ago, will be making its comeback on Tuesday, Jan. 10. And thanks to Electric Time Co., the clock is looking fine indeed.

The plan by Medfield’s Electric Time was to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint it, and replace or upgrade parts as needed.

The clock, which has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998, stands over 15 feet tall.

Wellesley Square clock won’t be showing its faces around here in a bit

August 27, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Don’t be alarmed if you notice the 2-dial Wellesley Square clock disappearing in coming weeks. It’s getting a facelift and more.

This Wellesley landmark is being completely renovated and hopefully will be back before the holiday season, says the Department of Public Works’ Mike Quinn, who is superintendent of the Park & Highway Division.

The clock will be reworked by Medfield’s Electric Time Co., which has been in operation since the early 1900s and has an electric clock museum at its facility.

Electric Time’s Susan Weisenfeld says the plan is to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint and replace or upgrade parts as needed. “When complete, it will look brand new,” she says.

Electric Time has been Wellesley’s go-to clock company over the years. It made clocks at Wellesley High, Town Hall, Playhouse Square, Needham Bank & more.

Repair time at Clocktower Park, too

Separately, Wellesley’s Park & Tree Division has been busy with the Isaac Sprague Memorial Tower at Elm (or Clocktower) Park in Wellesley Hills.

The iconic clock tower and park are on the National Register of Historic Places, so they need to keep up appearances like so many in town. The tower was built back in 1928 to house a clock and bell given to the town in 1874.

The town has been repairing the staircase leading up to the bell, and working to fix the bell’s chime equipment in hopes of allowing it to ring by year end. Electric Time provided Wellesley with a new bell hammer.

The town also has been fixing up the wood around the top of the bell tower to make it look great. The copper roof is set for renovation by next summer.

We had the pleasure of going up into the clocktower to visit the bell and clock a few years back, and hope to do so again when it’s all spruced up and COVID-19 rules allow.

Meanwhile, Elm Park is also getting a new look itself with an outdoor dining parklet taking shape thanks to grant funding.

Time out for Wellesley Square’s giant clock

September 3, 2020 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Word was that the Wellesley Municipal Light Plant and Department of Public Works would be removing the iconic two-dial street clock in Wellesley Square for renovation at 8AM on Thursday, and the crew didn’t waste any time.

View this post on Instagram
#Wellesley Square’s street clock is headed to the shop for repairs @electrictimecompany (video courtesy of DPW’s Kevin Collins)
A post shared by Swellesley Report (Wellesley) (@theswellesleyreport) on Sep 3, 2020 at 6:45am PDT

With the aid of Medfield’s Electric Time Co., which will be giving the clock a makeover before the holiday season, the clock face and post were up and out of the ground within an hour. The clock, which has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998, stands over 15 feet tall. While Electric Time wasn’t sure how much the clock weighed, its current two-dial clocks weigh 562 pounds.

I stood near town landscape planner Cricket Vlass, who despite her faith in the MLP and DPW couldn’t bear to watch the entire operation carried out within and above her bright flower plantings. Now the flower patch surrounds just the remaining clock innards and base.

DPW’s Kevin Collins said he anticipated the team having to use a backhoe to haul out the clock. But the MLP displayed its bucket truck wizardry in plucking the clock face and post from their stations once assorted fastenings were removed and power was disconnected.

wellesley square clock removal

Time out for #Wellesley Square’s giant clock https://t.co/jJs0c1ftU6 @tower_clocks pic.twitter.com/ejPrncYq2X
— swellesley (@swellesley) September 3, 2020

The plan by Electric Time now is to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint it, and replace or upgrade parts as needed.

Here’s the original drawing for the clock, shared by Electric Time:

electric clock drawing — Original Wellesley Square street clock drawing (via Electric Time)

Clock fixed: Time no longer standing still in Wellesley Square

February 4, 2016 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

wellesley square clock stuck at night — Wellesley Square’s Central Street clock on Wednesday night

When a Swellesley reader wrote to us last night asking if the powers that be at our esteemed operation knew “who to call to fix the Central Street clock that is only right 2x/day these days” we hopped right on it. After all, if there’s one thing Wellesley doesn’t want to be known for it’s being behind the times.

We shot out emails to the Wellesley Department of Public Works as well as to the Wellesley Square Merchants’ Association. And then this morning at 7:20 we stopped by to inspect the Wellesley Square clock ourselves. To our surprise, the time on the clock was correct, but then we looked back at the photo sent by the reader and saw that the time shown on the clock was 7:20 there, too. So coincidentally, we just happened to show up there during one of the clock’s two most shining moments of the day. When we drove by a little later in the AM, though, we noticed the clock was still at 7:20.

After that we reached out to one of the nearby business tenants as well as the area property manager to see if they might have an answer. But as the property manager suspected, this was a job for the town.

Wellesley Deputy Director Terry Connolly got back to us saying that “With a little help from [Wellesley Municipal Light Plant] and Electric Time Company (company we purchased the clock from), I’m happy to report the clock is fixed.”

WELLESLEY EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Sprague Memorial Clock Tower

Wellesley readies for Boston Marathon

April 14, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Established Wellesley residents know the drill by now on Boston Marathon day, from where to catch the best action depending on your appetite for crowds to how to avoid getting trapped on either side of Rte. 135 or 16 if you need to get somewhere else. But for those new to the area or who need a refresher, here’s a quick primer on the Boston Marathon through the roughly 4.25 miles in Wellesley, the fifth town along the course:

Road & other closings

The course along Rte. 135 and Rte. 16 will be off limits to non-official vehicles from 8:30am-3:30pm on April 17, per Wellesley Police and the Boston Athletic Association. Connecting roads, such as Pond Road, also get closed to vehicular traffic during the race. Temporary “No Parking” signs will also be posted. Check Wellesley Police Twitter for updates.

All Wellesley municipal buildings and offices will be closed. Closures include the Tolles Parsons Center and the Wellesley Free Libraries. The Recycling and Disposal Facility will also be closed.

Where to watch

It depends on what you’re looking for. Big crowds will gather around mile 12 at the Wellesley College entrance for the “scream tunnel” lined with students, many holding funny signs and some smooching runners (though the college fun police are reportedly suggesting students blow bubbles and share stickers instead). Wellesley Square is also packed on race day, with town hall and the library making nice backgrounds for your photos. Crowds are solid, but thinner along the rest of the Wellesley segment of the race. Watching from the 25K mark near the top of the hill across just before the Warren Center (Recreation building) can be exhilarating, especially when the wheelchair and hand cycle athletes fly downhill.

The wheelchair athletes start just after 9am and should be hitting Wellesley Square within an hour. The runners start shortly after 9:30am, so should be hitting Wellesley Square by around 10:30.

Wellesley runners

Roughly 50 Wellesley residents are listed as official entrants by the Boston Athletic Association. Best of luck to all!

John Agudelo, Lauren Alverson, Carrie Aronson, Alexander Baker, Jackie Barrett, Jill Brannelly, Catherine Bueker, Kathleen Burch, James Carroll, Adrienne Cohen, Bob Collins, Courtney Day, Michelle Day, Julia Dinovi, Tyler Dittrich, Christine Doherty, Trevor Donnelly, Richard Dravenstott, Grace Drury, Kerry Eagan, Colin Flynn, Brian Foley, Stephen Foraste, Rob Forker, Sarah Given, Logan Green, Kathryn Grissino, Sean Haggerty, Laura Hill, Ryan Hoff, Yimei Huang, Courtney Hyland, Pete Isberg, Bernard Jones, Philip Juliano, Vaani Kapoor, Timothy Kelly, Amanda Kelly Silberman, Griffin Knowlton, David Krupinski, Jenny Lee, Graham Masiiwa, Kate Maul, Lawrence Mcnally, Mary Miller, Maggie Monaghan, Julie Moore, Berj Najarian, Jeremy Naylor, Mj O’Donnell, Bradley Ritland, Samuel Sanchez, Vivek Shah, Michael Sharp, Starlee Sharp, Anthony Shields, Katherine Specht, Samuel Steere, Christine Youngren

Wellesley well represented in student races on Boston Marathon weekend

Charity runners

We invited Wellesley residents and those participating in the race for Wellesley charities to share their info.

More coverage

Wellesley man battling cancer to run Boston Marathon for organization helping him in his fight (Fox 25)
Wellesley wife, sister, daughter running Boston Marathon for father battling brain cancer
Wellesley boasts little-known marathon history (Chronicle) (Well, actually all this stuff, from Katharine Lee Bates to the Elm Park Clock Tower to the football boulder is familiar to dedicated Swellesley readers)
Boston Marathon block party awaits runners at Mile 15 (Boston.com)
Boston Marathon countdown: What to know about running the Wellesley stretch

Please share your best Boston Marathon photos from the Natick section of the course: natickreport@gmail.com

Wellesley Clock Tower bell not music to everyone’s ears

April 13, 2023 by Bob Brown 14 Comments

Concerns about noise from future night games at the Hunnewell Track & Field complex and from the current rapid fire pop of pickleballs near homes have generated their fair share of controversy in Wellesley. Now enter the hourly ringing of the bell at the nearly 100-year-old Sprague Memorial Clock Tower at Elm Park in Wellesley Hills as the latest sound to spark a complaint.

The Natural Resources Commission this past week (shortly before the 50-minute mark of the Wellesley Media recording) discussed a neighbor’s complaint about the bell, which rings every hour from 9am-6pm daily. It had been ringing hourly from 7am-9pm before the resident raised the issue over the winter, and the resident’s request was to limit the ringing to once per day, according to NRC Director Brandon Schmitt. There was some murkiness around who actually defines the schedule, though it was determined that the bell controls have limitations that allow for hourly ringing but not for say, ringing every 3 hours.

The Sprague Memorial Clock Tower bell sound is classic, striking, and loud. The clock and bell were given to the “the town of Needham for the village of Grantville” initially in 1874 by resident John W. Shaw for a schoolhouse bearing his name that stood at the intersection of Forest and Washington Streets. The clock and bell later made their way to the tower, designed by architect Benjamin Proctor, Jr., and completed in 1928 (per Josh Dorin, who wrote on the subject for a 2016 Wellesley Townsman article).

“[T]he bell used to chime every hour, even throughout the night. This feature didn’t last long. Numerous residents complained — primarily the newer residents of town, as the old-timers were comforted by the familiar tones made by the striking of the bell,” Dorin wrote.

I swung by the park over the weekend to record the sound, which I’ll admit—even though I knew it was coming—made me jump as I pressed play on my iPhone to capture the bell marking 1pm with 1 bold note.

The bell had been been out of commission for some time until last summer/fall when it returned to action after the bell hammer was rehabbed and other old hardware was replaced.

We had the good fortune of a DPW-led tour inside the clock tower back in 2013—the bell wasn’t working then (see “Wellesley exclusive: Inside the Sprague Memorial Clock Tower”).

The town has slowly been making repairs to the woodwork around the top of the bell tower as well as to the staircase leading up to it, with plans to bring in a contractor for copper roof repairs and additional renovation, Park and Highway Superintendent Mike Quinn told us.

The Department of Public Works made a request in 2017 for Community Preservation Act funding for work on the clock tower, which along with the park, is on the National Register of Historic Places. In that Community Preservation Committee (CPC) request, it is stated that “the keeping of time and hourly ringing of the bells provide a tangible connection to a significant historic tradition in town…”

A line item for FY25 within the DPW portion of the 5-year capital budget shows $525K (with the CPC as the funding source) for clock tower work that goes beyond the initial consultant estimates. Look for spending on some design and scope of work in the upcoming year, with the actual rehab taking place in FY25.

“At this time I’m not inclined to change the schedule of the clock tower bell, but I could recommend that we would look at better controls when we redo the entire building in 2025,” the NRC’s Jay McHale said during the recent commission meeting.

The other commissioners agreed.

Sound is a subject that’s been on the minds of NRC members, and in fact we asked about sound during our pre-election interviews with NRC candidates earlier this year. The NRC has been conducting research on sound, and plans to work with the School Committee to come up with a consistent sound policy for NRC and School fields.

Favorite Wellesley photos of 2022

December 27, 2022 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

We don’t claim to be the world’s greatest photographers, but despite our shortcomings, here are some of our favorite Wellesley photos from 2022 that help to tell the town’s story of the past year.

EA Davis, Wellesley — The old cash register at E.A. Davis before the store was renovated (the much-loved antique survived the buyout and remains in the 579 Washington St. store, which is under ownership by Mahi Gold Outfitters.

hunnewell clapout june 2022 — Hunnewell Elementary School sent off longtime crossing guard Judie Johnson Johnson, who safely shepherded students across the street for 58 years. She retired at the end of the 2022 school year. On clap-out day, Judie was showered with applause, given flowers, and serenaded with a chant of “Judie! Judie! Judie!”

Hardy School, Wellesley — Wellesley’s Hardy School students as part of a physical science learning activity took the educational experience out of the classroom and onto school grounds, where they had a blast launching their own water bottle rockets high into the sky.

squirrels — Seeing double. Photo courtesy of Jay Prosnitz

Herlda Senhouse, Wellesley — Herlda Senhouse and friends celebrate her 111th birthday at the Glen Grove apartment complex in Wellesley. How does a centenarian carry on the party after the cake is cut? In Herlda’s case, she and her entourage were chauffeured by private car to the Encore Casino in Everett, where she played the slots.

before and after mopo swim — Swimsuit models pose after a Jan 1., 2022 dip in the cold waters of Morses Pond.

[Read more…]

Wellesley Halloween happenings, 2022

October 28, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley’s many Halloween-time traditions are gearing up, so be sure not to miss a single opportunity to dress up in costume for visits to pumpkin patches, a fun fair, the annual stroll, and more.

Here’s our roundup of Wellesley Halloween Happenings, which we’ll be updating as activities get our attention.

Don’t see your free or low-cost Halloween-time community event here? Email us at deborahcb100@gmail.com for inclusion.

Halloween Stroll—Oct. 29

Kids and adults can get dressed up in their costumes for the annual Halloween Stroll on Saturday, October 29, 11am-1pm, starting at Clock Tower Park in Wellesley Hill, across from Green’s Hardware. Organized by the Wellesley Hill Merchants and the Wellesley Recreation Department, the free event will include trick or treating at the businesses of Wellesley Hills (remember to bring your own trick or treat bag), games, and fun for the whole family.

Halloween Spooktacular Display at 10 Falmouth Circle in Wellesley through Oct. 31

The annual neighborhood exhibit will raise funds for the Boston Rescue Mission again. Collection bins will be located by the front door and under the sign in the front yard.

Wellesley Hills Congregational Church pumpkin patch—through Oct. 31

The Wellesley Hills Congregational Church Pumpkin Patch will be open for sales through Oct. 31, 10am-6pm, on the front grounds of the 207 Washington St., church. The Pumpkin Patch will be filled with pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and fall colors. A portion of this annual fundraiser’s proceeds will go toward reducing the cost of the church’s reforestation service trip with Led2Serve in Costa Rica. Additional proceeds will go back to the indigenous people in New Mexico who grew the pumpkins. The Pumpkin Patch volunteers hope you’ll stop by to say hello, support a great cause, and have fun picking out a couple of pumpkins.

wellesley hlls church pumpkins — Wellesley Hills Congregational Church pumpkin display, 2019.

Monday, Oct. 31—How Wellesley does Halloween

Wellesley is definitely an October 31st trick-or-treating kind of town. (Even though every year there are pockets of fret about kids getting all wound up on a school night.)

Generally speaking, the littlest ones go out in their own neighborhoods at about 6pm.

The older kids head out a little bit later, around 6:30. We heckle kids who show up either without a costume or wearing a Patriots jersey and claiming, “I’m dressed up like a football player.” Seriously, big kids, if you’re too cool to put together a real costume, it’s time to let it go and fondly remember trick-or-treating as part of your misspent youth.

Most residents at 8pm close their doors, blow out the candles in their jack o’ lanterns, and turn off their front porch lights to signal that their house is done with Halloween.

This can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, but not by much. As far as the candy goes, certain houses have a reputation for handing out full-sized bars, and the rabid following that goes with such generosity. We’re not going to spill those sweet secrets here. You’ll have to get out there and find the best pickings for yourself.

Wellesley ghost stories

Listen to Wellesley’s Liz Sowers’ spooky “Ghosts in the Burbs” podcast.

Our biggest fear…

Here at The Swellesley Report, we’re terrified that you haven’t signed up for all our things. Allow us to treat you to “more than you really need to know about Wellesley, Massachusetts” in the following non-scary ways: