Sidewalk Clocks

These clocks are referred to by several different titles: sidewalk clocks, tower clocks or street clocks. These were everywhere on the streets of the downtown Milwaukee area at the turn of the Century. They were in place to help pedestrians & businesses sync their time pieces during the course of the day, & some of the clocks, like the one on the rt., were put up by the businesses themselves as advertising as well as for telling the time. These clocks came under attack by one of Milwaukee's youngest mayors, Sherman Becker-- known as the "Boy Mayor"--who was elected in 1906 at the age of 24. According to an article in a local paper at the time, the problem with Mayor Becker "was that he was crazy!" If there was a fire, the firetruck had to drive to wherever the Mayor was & pick him up first, so that he could ride on the truck & ring the bell! He purchased a brand new patrol car for the police, & then kept it for a month so he could drive around in it! The crazy mayor then issued an ordinance declaring the tower clocks to be an obstruction to sidewalk traffic & wanted them removed. When the new law was ignored by the public, who enjoyed the clocks, he took matters into his own hands. Early one morning in 1907, he & a team of firemen destroyed most of the city street clocks by knocking them over & smashing them! This blatant destruction, along with the removal-- in the 1950's-- of those tower clocks that were non-functioning, made sidewalk clocks a rare gem in Milwaukee. I believe there are only 3 left, with 2 of them being pictured above. (Mayor Becker was not re-elected) :)