Luncheon speaker, November 25...

Don Mueller, Executive Director of the American Clock and Watch Museum

Don came to Bristol from Erie, PA where he was an active Rotarian. Don’s talk began with Tall Clocks, which were made abundantly in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War Era. Thomas Harland started making these clocks in 1783 in South Windsor. Clock-makers were metal workers and engravers. The movements were made of molded brass, thus making the clocks expensive. Apprentice to Harland, Daniel Burnap made musical clocks. Eli Terry was an apprentice to Burnap. He started a business in Plymouth . His experiments with making movements out of wood, and using unskilled laborers that could mass produce the clocks reduced the price of clocks sharply. Cabinets were made by cabinet makers.

James Harrison made clocks in Southington from 1790 to 1795. Clockmakers were all around Connecticut. The Globe Clock Company manufactured clocks in Milldale circa 1883-84. Porter Brothers of Waterbury provided venture capital for Eli Terry to expand his operation. Terry hired Cyrus Hoadley and Seth Thomas in 1807, they built a factory and mass produced clocks. Terry sold out to Hoadley and Thomas. He than developed movements with pendulums for wall clocks. At this point clockmakers started producing cases for their clocks. Elias Ingraham, a cabinet maker, came to Bristol and made cases for wall clocks. Parts were now made out of thin sheets of brass, reducing costs. Seth Thomas developed the clock making business. He moved his factory to Plymouth Hollow, now Thomaston, renamed in his honor. He was a great marketer. Over time there were 280 clock-makers in Bristol alone. After time he condensed to three major companies in Western Connecticut: Gilbert in Winsted, Seth Thomas in Thomaston and Ingraham & Sessions in Bristol.

The Great Depression and World War II spelled the end of the U.S. Clock making industry. Clock factories made war supplies. Postwar, the Marshall Plan supported European clockmakers who made cheaper clocks and shipped them to the United States. Edward Ingraham established the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol in 1952. By 1980 the museum had filled and expanded with the addition of the Ingraham wing. The museum has primarily American Clocks and Watches. Clock Museum is on Maple Street in Bristol - Call 860.583.6070 for hours.