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Half Past William Jennings Bryan
Mar. 28th, 2011 02:45 pmI'd like to share excerpts from an article by Anne Hard, a reporter for Technical World Magazine. In the March 1908 issue, pages 85 through 90, she published "Clock of Many Accomplishments."
Far out on the prairie in the southwestern part of Chicago, hidden by the rude boarding of a frame house, stands a clock so intricate that it ranks among the most remarkable achievements of the clockmaker's art in America. It is one of the most accomplished clocks in the world, a lineal descendant of the famous old-world clocks of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. [...]
Part of the face of Franz Bohacek's fabulous Chicago clock. Orrery at bottom features planets and constellations. Uncle Sam stands in niche at center, where, at noon, a pageant of American history will appear.
( More on the astonishing clock of Franz Bohacek )
[Here's my favorite part:]
Interior of the clock. Franz Bohacek himself is visible at the bottom. Above him is the parade of U.S. Presidents, ready to appear when the clock strikes noon. The rectangles above each President's head may be name tags.
A still more interesting middle-age reminiscence is found when the bells toll for noon and a little door at the top opens. Then, where in the old clocks of Europe, the Emperor Charlemagne nods, in this there passes in review the pageant of American history.
First an Indian appears.
He gives way to Columbus.
Columbus to the Liberty Bell, which strikes three times and is followed by Benjamin Franklin, holding in his hand the Declaration of Independence.
Franklin ushers in the procession of the presidents, from Washington to Roosevelt.
And hidden in its place, waiting its turn to appear at the door, salute and stiffly pass on, Bohacek cherishes a little figurante of William Jennings Bryan.
For the present, at least, Admiral Dewey salutes and closes the door.
That's right-- this is the Lydia the Tattooed Lady of clocks! Thank you, Anne Hard.
Naturally I am wondering what became of the clock. My horological history consultant, Roger Zimmermann, is attempting to run down more information about Bohacek's clock. He has found a Chicago Daily Tribune report from 1901 indicating that the Bohaceks lived at 6304 Winchester Avenue, near Damen and 63rd Street, about halfway between Midway Airport and the University of Chicago. (I remember driving past there a few weeks ago! I was on my way from Winston's Sausage Shop, with its gigantic fiberglass steer on the roof, to the site of the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction, where I wanted to check out some books.)
Franz Bohacek was also known as "Frank," and under that name we can find more pictures of the clock from the Chicago Daily News and a 1901 story from House Beautiful. We have found no indication that the clock still exists. If it did, it would be a wonderful sight to see.
Far out on the prairie in the southwestern part of Chicago, hidden by the rude boarding of a frame house, stands a clock so intricate that it ranks among the most remarkable achievements of the clockmaker's art in America. It is one of the most accomplished clocks in the world, a lineal descendant of the famous old-world clocks of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. [...]
Part of the face of Franz Bohacek's fabulous Chicago clock. Orrery at bottom features planets and constellations. Uncle Sam stands in niche at center, where, at noon, a pageant of American history will appear.
( More on the astonishing clock of Franz Bohacek )
[Here's my favorite part:]
Interior of the clock. Franz Bohacek himself is visible at the bottom. Above him is the parade of U.S. Presidents, ready to appear when the clock strikes noon. The rectangles above each President's head may be name tags.
A still more interesting middle-age reminiscence is found when the bells toll for noon and a little door at the top opens. Then, where in the old clocks of Europe, the Emperor Charlemagne nods, in this there passes in review the pageant of American history.
First an Indian appears.
He gives way to Columbus.
Columbus to the Liberty Bell, which strikes three times and is followed by Benjamin Franklin, holding in his hand the Declaration of Independence.
Franklin ushers in the procession of the presidents, from Washington to Roosevelt.
And hidden in its place, waiting its turn to appear at the door, salute and stiffly pass on, Bohacek cherishes a little figurante of William Jennings Bryan.
For the present, at least, Admiral Dewey salutes and closes the door.
That's right-- this is the Lydia the Tattooed Lady of clocks! Thank you, Anne Hard.
Naturally I am wondering what became of the clock. My horological history consultant, Roger Zimmermann, is attempting to run down more information about Bohacek's clock. He has found a Chicago Daily Tribune report from 1901 indicating that the Bohaceks lived at 6304 Winchester Avenue, near Damen and 63rd Street, about halfway between Midway Airport and the University of Chicago. (I remember driving past there a few weeks ago! I was on my way from Winston's Sausage Shop, with its gigantic fiberglass steer on the roof, to the site of the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction, where I wanted to check out some books.)
Franz Bohacek was also known as "Frank," and under that name we can find more pictures of the clock from the Chicago Daily News and a 1901 story from House Beautiful. We have found no indication that the clock still exists. If it did, it would be a wonderful sight to see.
