SAVING TIME – The Clocks of Downtown Panama City
BY ROBERT HURST PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FENDER HISTORICAL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BAY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]All great cities have their iconic landmarks and structures. The Eiffel Tower is synonymous with Paris. Big Ben identifies London. In Northwest Florida, landmarks have shaped our identity in the last hundred years of urban development.
In Panama City’s Downtown, several historic buildings have withstood the times, but many did not survive the wrath of Hurricane Michael in October 2018. One of Panama City’s icons is the imposing clock that was attached to the marble and brick office building on the corner of Beach Drive and Harrison Avenue. It has been a fixture in the community since 1926 when the first clock was installed by First National Bank on the corner of Beach Drive and Harrison Avenue, where it has become a familiar site for generations of residents.
While the clock on Harrison and Beach Drive is the most renowned, there are three of these clocks in Panama City. All three are McClintock exterior bracket clocks and perhaps no other city can boast such a collection. The O. B. McClintock Company made large clocks for banks and other financial institutions from 1917 to 1949.
“In classic 1920’s newspaper style, the Panama City Pilot gushed about the clock in its July 22, 1926 edition: ‘The magnificent clock installed by the First National Bank at Harrison and First [Beach Dr] pealed forth its melodious cathedral chimes for the first time recently. Much favorable comment was heard on all sides by those who were within range of the sweet notes.’” (The News Herald, 2002)
In those days, “Bank Corner,” as the Beach Drive/Harrison Avenue intersection was called, was the hub of the commercial district. Anyone who came shopping in Panama City not only saw the clock, but heard its melodious Westminster chimes every quarter of an hour.
These were exciting times; these were the Roaring ‘20s. This was the age of prohibition, bootlegging, mob violence, talking movies, the Charleston, Al Capone, Houdini, and “The Great Gatsby.” Panama City saw an unparalleled building boom. Fondly remembered hotels like The Cove and Dixie Sherman, the old ballpark called Collins Field, and institutions of learning such as Bay High School and Bob Jones College were being constructed. “Downtown” Panama City was about to surrender its place as the commercial hub to the new “Uptown” business center. At the time, the intersection of 4th and Harrison, “Four Points” as it was called back then, was witnessing the construction of at least seven new masonry buildings, one being City Hall.
In 1957, Commercial Bank, the successor of First National, joined the “Uptown” movement, relocating to 638 Harrison Avenue at the corner of 7th Street, and with them went the original clock.
So much of a tradition had the clock’s presence become that, in October 1989, a succeeding occupant, Black Insurance, had a reproduction installed in the same location. Seeing a similar clock while visiting New Orleans, “We felt there was a need for a clock at this end of town,” stated insurance owner John Robert Middlemas in the December 3, 1989 issue of the Panama City News Herald.
But this clock, too, was removed in 2002 when Black Insurance was bought by People’s First Bank. This clock was placed in storage. In 2005, the new occupant of the building, attorney William Harrison, had a more modern clock installed at the same location. If you kept count, we are now talking about three clocks that once were installed at “Bank Corner.”
The exterior copper bracket clock by the O. B. McClintock Co. (1917-1949), which was originally placed on the First National Bank building in 1926. Print from a printing block of the printing press of the G. M. West newspapers, West Collection, Panama City Publishing Co. Museum. Photo courtesy of Anita Thomas
So where are these three clocks now? During Hurricane Michael’s landfall on October 10, 2018, the clock on the corner of Harrison Avenue and Beach Drive was severely damaged and has been sent off for repair to a repair facility in Pennsylvania. The original clock that dates back to 1926 and was installed by First National (later Commercial Bank) had been placed on a post adjacent to the new location of the bank at 133 Harrison Avenue. When Sun Trust Bank took over Commercial Bank, it also became the new owner of this clock. Not only the Trustmark Bank Building, but also the clock that sat in front of it was damaged by Hurricane Michael. The Black Insurance Clock that had previously been placed in storage remains unscathed.
Plans are afoot for all three clocks. Attorney Harrison has sent off his clock for repair and plans to reinstall it to its location at 101 Harrison Avenue. Through the efforts of Historical Society members Kevin Wattenbarger, Rebecca Saunders, and myself, the other two clocks were gifted to the Bay County Historical Society. Rebecca Saunders, museum curator, has contacted repair companies to repair and restore the clocks to their old grandeur. Once renewed, a resting place will have to be found.
The newest clock is planned to return to its original place on the corner of Harrison and Beach Drive. The Downtown Panama City redevelopment plans by urban planning group Dover Kohl and Partners incorporates one of the clocks in the new cityscape, with a possible central display at the future plaza at Four Points. So once again we will see clocks in both Downtown and Uptown PC.
More grandiloquent than I could ever describe what these clocks have meant and will mean, I quote the words of First National Bank’s cashier, T. C. Payne, who said in 1926:
“We hope that the chimes will mean something to all our people, that they will have a message for the youngster on his way to school, a thought for the business man who hustles through the day, a solace for the old, an inspiration for all. Everyday of the week the chimes will be sounding their message – the note of warning spoken in time; the chime of rejoicing; the lament in sorrow. This chime will be all those things to each and everyone for it is going to belong not to us alone, but to the men and women and children of our community.”
The Bay County Historical Society hopes to raise funds to restore the original clock that dates back to 1926. Those interested may view it or contribute to its restoration at the History Museum at 133 Harrison Avenue, Panama City. With the future vision of redevelopment of Downtown Panama City, the society hopes that the city will consider integrating the clocks into its building plans.
Special thanks go to donors The Chapman Family and Sun Trust Bank. Special mention goes to Bill Register, Golden Sands General Contractors, Deep South Cranes, and Royal American Corporation for transporting these extremely heavy clocks to the History Museum.
