Spot a Clock: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

This month’s ‘Spot a Clock’ is Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 1046 North 9th Street, Milwaukee. The picture below was taken during a Doors Open Milwaukee event in 2016. As with many Lutheran churches in the city, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded by German immigrants. The congregation was founded in 1847, and is the oldest Missouri Synod church in the city.

The architect of the church was Fredrick Velguth, who designed the church in the German Romanesque/Gothic Revival style. The church was built in 1878. The church was entered into the National Registry of Historic Places in 1979. According to the City of Milwaukee’s Final Historic Designation Study Report, “The clock was made in Howard, New York, although it has since been electrified.” A review of the E. Howard Co. clock records available online through the NAWCC did not identify a listing for the clock movement or dials.

On May 15, 2018, a devastating fire erupted at the church during renovations. One of the spires collapsed, as did the roof over the main section of the church. Subsequent newspaper articles indicate it will be possible to rebuild the church. A recent visit found a fence around the perimeter, and a sign asking for support for the rebuilding. This event is a reminder that our historic buildings are often one-of-a-kind structures, and cannot be easily replaced.

Presidents Message,

We will continue to need some help setting up and taking down. So arrive at 9:00 and help setup and stay after the educational talk to help return the room in the condition we found it in. Thank you for your help in this.

Opens at 9:00 for setup and mart.
Robert Olney will be demonstrating glass cutting beginning at 10:00 during the mart.
Educational talk at 11:00.
Cleanup at 12:00.

We need a new secretary. The main job is just to put this newsletter together. Please offer to help so no one is overburdened, only takes around an hour per meeting.

We have some demonstrations planned for upcoming meetings as follows:

Mar – Glass cutting (Robert Olney)
May – Re-pivoting clock and watch arbors (Dempsey)
Sep– Balance staff and hairspring replacement (Dempsey)
Nov – Winding clock & watch mainsprings (Osterud/Dempsey)
Jan – Resilver dials (White)

We had to presentations at our February mart. Harry Schultz gave a talk on Making a Calendar Wheel to replace a damaged wheel from an English Tall Case Clock. He created a “simple” dividing plate and used it to layout his part. He then cut the teeth with a splitting saw and jewelers saw. After the part was cut Harry then filed it to shape and fitted it to the clock. Thanks Harry for this informative talk.

Michael Figueira discussed letting down the spring on a 1986 vintage Elgin 400-day clock. This clock is known as a German time bomb. It received this nickname from its less than obvious way to let down the tension in the mainspring. Letting the spring down incorrectly can cause the clock to rapidly disintegrate. Mike has successfully let down the spring, rebuilt the movement and currently keeps the clock in his wife’s sewing room for some reason. It is kept away from where his wife sits!

Thanks to Harry and Michael for these informative talks.

“A group of timepiece enthusiasts is gathering weekly in Mukwonago on Thursday evenings through April 11. The group consists mainly of former students of the defunct WCTC community extracurricular education program, and is seeking to expand its attendance with anyone who has an interest in learning about timepieces OR SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE. Currently, the meetings are BYOC (bring your own clock). As the attendees work on their timepieces, they share advice and opinions, troubleshoot and converse. If interested in attending, contact Kevin Schultz at usmc2nbpd@yahoo.com.”

Future educational talks planned:

March 10 – Danno will make a Presentation on Renaissance and other Clocks at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
May 19 – Craig White will make a presentation “Restoring a Scottish Musical Tall Case Clock”
Sept 22 – Amelia Osterud will give a talk entitled “Chauncey Jerome vs PT Barnum: The Great Bankruptcy of 1856”
Nov 17 – ?

We still need a volunteers for talks for 2024 & 2025. Please contact Harry Schulz or myself with ideas or suggestions.

Free tables!! A free silent auction table will also be available. We had some more clocks donated which the chapter will be selling at the silent auction table.

Hope to see you all there.
Thanks,
Craig

NAWCC Chapter 47

Spot a Clock: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

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Our next Mart will be on March 10th, 2024