Even regular visitors to downtown San Jose may not notice one of the city’s most enduring pieces of history: The 112-year-old “century clock” atop the old wing of the San Jose Museum of Art on Market Street. Its faces still display the time for the mostly barren streets of downtown these days, a symbol that time is marching on even though the coronavirus pandemic has made civic life stand still.
And that it’s still telling time is in itself no small feat. It’s not like it runs on a couple of batteries. Randy Bricco, the museum’s facilities manager, climbs up the narrow stairs to the tower to wind the clock every week.
During its downtime, the museum posted a fascinating video of the process on YouTube that includes this message: “We just wanted to let you know that Randy will be winding the clock twice a week during these challenging times. We think the clock is a staple of our city and our community.” There’s a link to the video, photos and more information about the clock at www.sjmusart.org/WeAreListening.
The museum wing was built in 1892 as the city’s post office and later served as the main library. Constructed out of the same Greystone Quarry sandstone as the Lick Observatory and the Stanford quad, the original steeple and clock toppled during the 1906 earthquake. A shorter tower was constructed as a replacement, and clockmaker Nels Johnson came in person to San Jose from Michigan to install the “century tower clock” — so named for its expected lifetime — in the new tower in 1908.
Naglee Park resident John Mitchell has been leading a campaign for more than two decades to have the full tower restored, which would create a belfry for the clock’s bell, which apparently hasn’t rung since the 1970s and even then was only audible inside the building. Mitchell says it’s a mystery why such an astounding timepiece was installed in San Jose, a farming community that at the time had a population of less than 30,000 people, but he speculates it might have been connected to the astronomy work going on at Lick Observatory.
Maybe the increased visibility from the video will give Mitchell’s effort a boost, but at the very least it should give downtown visitors — real or virtual — a chance to marvel at one of San Jose’s earliest examples of time-tested technology.
SPECIAL DELIVERY: After being canceled last week, the canned food collection for Second Harvest Food Bank is back on this Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cambrian Park Plaza in San Jose. Organizer Mike Hennessy reports that Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese and his office staff figured out a plan to have the donations collected while still maintaining social distance guidelines. Volunteers will unload donations from your car — contact free — and load them into trucks by the famous merry-go-round sign.
And there’ll be a special visit this week by the Easter Bunny. Since Campbell’s 22nd annual Bunnies N’ Bonnets Parade, planned for this Saturday, had to be canceled, the Campbell Kiwanis Club instead will have its bright yellow vintage semi-truck decked out in its Easter best and playing music in the parking lot at the corner of Union and Camden avenues.
SHARE YOUR STORY: When future generations look back at the extraordinary crisis we’re going through now, what will they see? The Los Altos History Museum is trying to make sure there’s a lot of information to share about the impact COVID-19 had on our lives.
The museum is looking for stories, photos, diary entries and other items from Santa Clara County residents that it can archive in its permanent collection. “We want to hear how you and your loved ones are experiencing this extraordinary event, how has it disrupted your lives? How are you getting through it? How have everyday routines changed in your household?” Exhibition Curator Amy Ellison said. “Our grandkids and great grandkids will wonder what life was like during this pandemic.”
There’s no firm deadline to submit materials, as museum leaders know it may take time for us to both get through this and process it all. But you can learn more or contribute to the collection at losaltoshistory.org/ShareCovid-19stories.