Beginning a few months after the Great Fire of 1901, people Downtown who passed by Jacobs Jewelers could note the time on an 18-foot, four-dial clock.
Only 100 of the clocks were manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Co. and fewer than 10 remain in operation.
The owners of the store were not just interested in providing a convenience for pedestrians. The clock was purchased and installed along Bay Street in front of Jacobs Jewelers as a symbol of Jacksonville's rising from the ashes of the fire that burned almost the entire city to the ground.
The store and the clock moved to Forsyth Street several years later and then again in 1930 to the Greenleaf Building along Laura and Adams streets.
The clock was first rehabilitated in 1973 after a City bus jumped the curb and knocked down the timepiece. Another refurbishment was completed in 1995, the year the clock was gifted by the store to the City and the people of Jacksonville, said Jacobs owner Roy Thomas.
Since April 2011, passersby along the street in front of the store haven't been able to check the time, since the clock was removed by the City to allow for construction of the Laura Street improvement project, which was completed before Mayor Alvin Brown took office.
Last April, the City awarded a $51,000 contract for the restoration of the clock to the I.T. Verdin Co, in Cincinnati. The work was completed and the restored clock was shipped back to Jacksonville in September. It has been stored in a City warehouse since.
"We are anxious to get the clock back. It only took six weeks in 1973 when it was in 200 pieces after the bus ran over it," said Thomas.
Scott Wilson, executive assistant to City Council member Don Redman, whose district includes Downtown, said the clock is ready to be re-installed as soon as the City awards a bid for a concrete base for the clock.
Public Works Department Chief of Engineering and Construction Management Bill Joyce estimated it will be another 6-8 weeks before the final step of restoring the clock along Laura Street.
"We have received bids and are currently reviewing. Once we determine a low responsive bidder we will be formulating a recommendation to the awards committee. We should have a recommendation within the next couple of weeks," he said.
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