The 2001 Restoration
In 1998, Cranbury Township purchased the Old School from the Cranbury Board of Education and, with the assistance of a grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust, began renovations in 2000. At the same time, a parallel effort was initiated to restore the historic clock and bell using a separate source of funds. As reported in an article in the Cranbury Press on October 12, 2001:
When the clock and the bell were added to the restoration efforts, the Cranbury Historic Society stepped in and offered to help fund the project with help from fund raising and contributions from the community. The society offered contributors a brick from the Old School when they donated to the fund, and, in total, their efforts have raised about $5,000.
The effort to restore the clock and bell was headed up by Township Committee member Tom Gambino. Initially, the Township Committee debated whether to restore the clock and bell to full operation or simply move them to the town’s art gallery. The overwhelming consensus was for a full restoration. As stated in the Cranbury Press by Bill Bunting, president of Cranbury Landmarks:
"The building is a national landmark. The clock is part of the total building. To move it is to take away part of the landmark. It wouldn't be proper in my view to take out any feature that was part of the whole building. If we moved it, it wouldn't work anymore. The bell would become an artifact or an object just to be looked at. It would not be anywhere near authentic."
Tom Gambino added:
"It's really a wondrous mechanism. It just wouldn't have done it justice not to ring anymore.”
In a letter to the Township Committee on May 1, 2000, Lyn Green, President of Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society, clearly stated the position of the Society:
“The members of the Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society support the Cranbury Township Committee’s efforts to preserve the historic exterior of the Old School, including keeping the bell in the Clock Tower. As a national Historic Landmark the Old School will only retain that designation if the exterior remains as it was when the building was granted that honor.”
The Balzer Family Clock Works, a tower clock specialist located in Freeport, Maine was sent a video which showed the condition of the clock. Their estimate for restoring it to full working order, received on September 6, 2000, had to have been a shock:
... it is apparent that the timepiece will need to be completely disassembled and cleaned. The clock wheels and pinions are covered with lubricant. No oil or grease should ever be applied directly to these components. The lubricants will attract and hold any airborne debris, which eventually works its way throughout the clock movement causing wear.
We noticed on the video that the clock is covered with the insulation that is located at that tower level... Either the insulation should be sealed up or the clock movement removed and relocated to a lower level.
Our experience with the restoration of this model E. Howard is that the pinions are subject to excessive wear and new pinions will have to be machined. We also noticed that the wind arbor on the strike function is twisted and bent and will need to be repaired. It appears that at some point the clock movement was disconnected from the dial gears and an electric movement was installed to drive the hands.
It is difficult to assess the extent of the restoration required so I will give you a range that will include relocation of the clock movement ... as well as [an] automatic winding system for the weights...Based on the video and taking into account all of the unknowns that may occur we estimate the cost to range between $30,000 and $40,000.
Your timepiece is of major historical and horological significance and is certainly worthy of the necessary restoration to assure its preservation.
As noted in the Cranbury Press, this was clearly not what Mr. Gambino had hoped for:
"Balzer submitted a bid," said Mr. Gambino. "It was a lot of money and we felt we could do it ourselves. The Historical Society feels that this is a community project. People in the community are pitching in and doing the work, which is nice. Those who would like to contribute can do so."
With this as a plan, the Cranbury press reported that local artisans were solicited to help with the restoration:
Tom Gambino and Mike Keiser share a laugh in the belfry. Note the clock face behind them.
[CHPS] has already hired a local contractor, Mike Kaiser, who has dismantled the clockwork and its hands so they may be repaired ... The society also has enlisted Dennis West of West Pattern Works on Main Street to make a new bell wheel for the antique timepiece ... In addition, the board has hired a clock repair specialist, William Meehan, a resident of Clearbrook in Monroe, to clean and repair the clock's components.
Mr. Kaiser would later provide a slight clarification to this account, stating:
"I volunteered my time to help with the project and don’t recall any money being offered by anyone. Tom talked me into the work — as he always was able to do!"
On February 21, 2001, in a handwritten note to Mahbubeh Stave, William Meehan provided a detailed list of what needed to be done to restore the clock. In addition to dismantling, cleaning, de-greasing and painting, Mr. Meehan noted that an electric motor present behind the dial had to be removed. He also noted:
“The original hand drive shaft(s) with their right-angle gears seem to have been lost.”
These shafts would have to be built as part of the restoration. Mr. Meehan concluded with a comment on his bill:
“I have been asked what I would charge for my part in the work; I thought $1,500.00. However we can discuss this at a meeting.”
Quite a difference from the original quote of $30,000 to $40,000!
As hoped, the clock and bell were restored in time for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Town Hall on October 14, 2001. To celebrate the occasion, former Old School students Dave Cook and Phillip Amend rang the bell by hand. The Cranbury Press quoted the following reactions to the clock’s restoration:
Dedication of the new Town Hall, 2001
Left to Right: Pari Stave, Greg Overstreet, Michael Mayes (Mayor) and Tom Gambino
"I looked at the clock about a week ago and it was beautiful. It is all polished up and shining. It looks like a jewel up there.“ – Tom Gambino
"It is all cleaned up and polished with a golden color on parts. It looks like a brand new clock and is a marvelous mechanism worth seeing.“ – Bill Bunting
“The Cranbury Town Hall clock tower bell has rung in a new era, yet this is the very sound that was heard daily in Cranbury for more than 60 years after the school was built.” – Lyn Green
