STREETSCAPES Project to add 12 feet to clock tower

The work should be done by the end of fall.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Village residents and visitors will soon see a clock tower of different proportions.
The clock tower has sat at the corner of U.S. Route 224 and state Route 170 for several years. Now, the community group Streetscapes is planning to add 12 feet to its height.
Work has already begun and the project should be finished by the end of fall. The additional 12 feet will make the tower's overall height 37 feet.
Larry Warren, a Streetscapes member, said raising the tower at the base was ruled out because of cost. The group opted instead to remove the roof of the tower, add a metal and glass fixture to the top and replace the current roof.
Same look
Warren said the plans were made with the surrounding community and aesthetics of the clock tower in mind.
The tower "will still have that light, airy look to it. When you raise it that much you run the possibility of making it look too big for its spot. This way you will be able to see through it and it will be something very attractive," he said.
Warren said that shortly after the tower was built, residents suggested that it should have been made taller. He said members of Streetscapes had also suggested that the tower should have been made to resemble historic, larger clock towers.
"In its original design it wasn't tall enough to begin with," he said. "Normally clock towers were the tallest buildings in the community; that's how people would tell time. It came from a time when people did not carry pocket watches. This will be a little more authentic in its look -- particularly with the height."
The clock tower, even with the additional 12 feet, will not be the tallest building in the village, but Warren said Streetscapes members still felt a little more height was appropriate. The total cost of the project will be about $25,000.
Plans for park
Warren said Streetscapes members still plan to place a park on the now-closed McQuaids gas station just to the rear of the clock tower. A village family had offered $150,000 to the group to create the park.
Plans for the park call for the current gas station building to be demolished and landscaping added. A large fountain would be installed with 7-foot-tall statues of Poland's founding fathers.
Warren said Streetscapes members view the potential park and clock tower heightening as two separate projects, even though the tower and park would be on the same lot.
jgoodwin@vindy.com