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The Conger Street Clock Tower
This clock tower mechanism was built about 1750 and the
pendulum is 13 feet long. It takes almost 4 seconds
for the pendulum to complete one cycle.
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The Conger Street
Clock Museum
730 Conger Street, Eugene, Oregon 97402
541-344-6359
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The Conger Street Clock Museum is a walk back in time as you
look at one of the 20 window exhibits featuring memories of the past.
Hand made cars, tractors, trains and clocks are just a few of the things
you will see. Visit the communications room, see the camera collection
and the minature pedal car collection.
They come by the bus load to visit
The Conger Street Clock Museum
Conger Street Tower Clock
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The clock has two sets of bells. A single bell on the right side and double bells on the left. The right side is for counting the quarter hour and each fifteen minutes it rings one more time. So at fifteen minutes after the hour it strikes
one time. On the half hour it rings twice, at fifteen minutes before the hour it rings three times, and on the hour it rings four times. It will then count the hour with the bells on the left side.
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The old clock was made about 1750 and is a three train mechanism. That means that it is actualy three different mechanisms linked together to work as one unit. One train counts the quarters, one train counts the hour, and the other train tells the time.
The pendulum is thirteen feet long and weighs sixty two pounds. The pendulum takes three and three quarter seconds to complete one cycle.
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The Mechanism
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Bells, Ropes, and Hammers
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The bells on the left side are eight feet long, and the bell on the right is 7 feet long. The hammers are thirteen inches long and are made of oak. There are thirty six feet of rope on each of the pullies and the clock needs to be wound every twenty four hours.
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The Clock Tower
The clock tower is eighteen feet tall so it continues eight feet above the ceiling. The pendulum go seven feet above the ceiling.
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Window Number Two
Click on the above photo to see more of
this window and the clocks displayed in it.
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Brass and Class
There are twenty six different window displays. Each window display has several different
clocks or other antique items in it. If you click on a window, you will be able to see photos of the items displayed in
that window. You will see information about the date made, size and the maker of the clock. If you
click on the photo of the individual clock, that photo will be enlarged.
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Rare Time Pieces
In 1961 J.D. Olson received a clock from a neighbor as payment for repairing the neighbors other clock. The old clock was worth more than the repair should have cost, so the condition was that Olson would consider the clock a gift and never get rid of it. He didn't! That clock is one of the hundreds of old, antique, or rare clocks on display in the
Conger Street Clock Museum.
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Window Number Seventeen
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Davies Illuminator Circa 1858
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One of the most interesting clocks in the museum is this
Davies Illuminated Alarm Clock dated 1858. When the alarm was triggered, a spring on the top of the clock would release. This would allow
a match to travel across the spring that was covered with leather sandpaper.
In theory, the match would strike and continue to rotate, until
it was over an oil lamp that was located on the top of the clock. The match would light the lamp to provide light in the dark of the night.
However,
what often happened was that the match head would snap off and light the clock on fire instead of lighting the lamp. Most of these clocks were distroyed by fire.
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Window Sixteen
The Water Clock ~ Dated 1551
Clepsydras ( clep-si-druhs )
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Click on photo for more pictures
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A featured attraction of the museum is this hand tooled water clock made in Birmingham, England and dated 1551.
At high noon, the clockmaker could fill the float water canister until the hand pointed to the sun. The following day, the hand should once again point up to the sun. If it did not, the clockmaker would adjust the valve until the water drip rate
caused the clock to indicate the correct time each day.
The deep tooling on the watertank reminds you of the metal work you would see on an old wine goblet from the same period.
The tooling is raised almost a quarter inch in some spots and the work is beautiful.
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Boston Clocks
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Another favorite is the Boston advertising jug clock from 1935. It is an eight day time only. There are also some old Chelsea ships clocks that were made in Boston.
The little refrigerator clock is a General Electric promotional clock from 1917 when they purchased half interest in the Telechron Co.
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Bank Vault Timers
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There are several bank vault timers including one from the late 1800's and one that was salvaged from a bank that was destroyed during the Watts riots.
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Novelty Clocks
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A moving eye owl clock from 1900, an old alarm clock from 1910, a night candle clock from 1907 and the G.E. Refrigerator clock from 1917. These are just a few
of the hundreds of old, interesting, and collectable clock you will see in this museum.
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That First Collectible
by J.D. Olson
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In 1952 I was living on the Whiteriver Indian Reservation with my missionary parents, four brothers and
a new sister. When school was out, an aunt took me to San Bernardion, California to spend part of the summer. I had never
seen sidewalks before and the only time I had seen paved roads, was when my parents took us to the big city some thirty miles away.
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As a treat for being sorta good while I was visiting California, my aunt bought the above plastic model kit for me. I had never seen a plastic kit, and I
had never owned a toy car that was actually built by a company. Our toys had been neat blocks of wood with Bingo chips or old Checkers for wheels. Needless
to say, I fell in love with the plastic model. That plastic Model T would be the first collectible that would become part of a fifty year collection. That fifty
year collection became
The Conger Street Clock Museum.
That First Clock
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In 1962 a neighbor gave to me this little Schatz clock, as payment for repairing
another of his clocks. He had purchased this little Schatz while stationed in Germany
in 1954. This little clock was the best looking time keeper I had ever seen, and I loved the way it
worked. This was the first clock to become part of the collection on display in the Museum.
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Memory Lane
The Penny Smasher
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Tour groups from schools,
senior citizen homes, businesses, and tourist from all over the world have visited this museum.
There is no charge for admission. However,
when you smash a penny in the penny smasher, you help to support the museum.
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Souvenir Coins from the Penny Smasher
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North on Memory Lane
We hope you will take some time to relax as you stroll
through the museum. You are sure to find something
that will bring back fond memories of something or sometime in your past.
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The Clock Lobby
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In the lobby there are many old master clocks from as early as 1898. These master clocks were used to signal other clocks through out a building and would also control bells to signal the start of work, lunch break, or time to go home.
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Old Mantel Clocks
You will also see old mantel clocks from as far back as the seventeen hundreds. All of the clocks in the museum are in working condition and maintained by the service staff of museum.
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Wells Fargo Collection
Clocks are the primary display of the clock museum but it is a museum of time and not just clocks. The Wells Fargo display has a collection of night watchman clocks, old check writers, bank vault timers and other such items.
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These pigeon timers date back to the 1800s. A numbered band was placed on the leg of a Homing Pigeon. When the pigeon returned to its name, the band was removed and the time was recorded on the piegon timer. The band was then placed in the timer and that compartment was closed and locked and only the judges could unlock the timer. This would show how long it took for each racing piegon to travel a given distance.
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Pigeon Timers
Window Number Twenty Four
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Yesteryear
Take a walk back in time as you see the items displayed in the museum.
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More Than Just Clocks
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The West Wing
The big old clock on the left is from a bank. The clock was made about 1898 and would control large bells located outside of the bank. It now controls the red bells on its right side and to the left of the master school clock on the other side of the wall. The master school clock was made in 1901 and was used to ring bells in class rooms to signal time for recesses, lunch time, and time to go home.
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The Conger Street Clock Museum
730 Conger Street
Eugene, Oregon 97402
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Museum and Showroom Hours
Monday - Saturday 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Phone 541-344-6359 Fax 541-338-0869
PO Box 2100, Eugene, Oregon 97402
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