Historic clock rings again on the Square in downtown Georgetown

Visitors to the Square may have noticed the tolling of a bell not heard in years.

The historic clock atop the Williamson County Courthouse has finally been repaired and rings out in roughly 15-minute increments from the bell on the east side of the dome.

The bell had sat dormant for about four years after breaking down. Daniel Shea, the county’s facilities management building engineer said age was to blame.

“Being over 100 years old, some of the parts had worn down,” he said, adding that the mechanisms running the clock are complicated and intricate. “Even wear within an eighth of an inch causes problems.”

The Southwest Museum of Clocks and Watches in Lockhart oversaw repairs, which started in October. The delay in fixing the 110-year-old clock was due to the fact that four years ago no one at this company was trained in fixing hybrid clocks.

“Being as old as it was, finding someone to repair it became an issue,” Mr. Shea said. “Our clock had been upgraded to a hybrid mechanical and electrical [system]. It went beyond the founder of that institution’s purview.”

Luckily for the county, the museum was taken over by Ben Courtney, who is trained in hybrid clocks and was able to get the clock functioning. The first chime in four years went out on November 7 during a veterans service on the Square.

The clock is slightly out of time, ringing just past the slated times, but still chimes around the hour mark and at consistent intervals – about 19, 31 and 49 minutes past the hour.

“We feel comfortable that the clock is operable, but to get it to the point where it’s back to its original service, we’ll have to take it down again,” Mr. Shea said. “There’s still wear on the equipment that needs to be repaired.”

He said the county plans to leave the clock up through the holidays and to finish repairs in January. Mr. Courtney will need to take the faulty part with him to the Museum workshop and create a new one, which may take two weeks or longer.