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Chapter 10
The Building Campaign of 1825
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Clock and Bell
Next, Jefferson turned his still fertile mind to the ingenious clock and bell mechanism that
he wished to have installed in the tympanum of the portico on the Rotunda's south front (see
appendix Q). Understanding that the "art of bellmaking is carried to greater perfection in
Boston than elsewhere in the US.," Jefferson on 12 April wrote to Joseph Coolidge, Jr.,
asking for assistance in finding a skilled bell and clock maker. "we want a bell which can
generally be heard at the distance of 2 miles," he said, "because this will ensure it's being
always heard in Charlottesville. as we wish it to be sfft for this, so we wish it not more so,
because it will add to it's weight, price and difficulty of managemt."[692] The page of
specifications for the clock and bell that Jefferson enclosed in his letter to Coolidge shows
that the octogenarian still retained his lifelong fascination with machinery and, at least
where the university was concerned, was still willing to give his full attention and remaining
vigor to such inventions:
-
A clock is wanting for the Rotunda of the University; the size and strength of
it's works must be accomodated to two data. - 1. the bell weighs 400. lbs and is to be heard with certainty 1½ miles
-
2. the dial-plate is to be about 6 feet 2 I. diameter. it is to be fixed in the
tympanum of the Pediment of the Portico. the triangle of this tympanum has not
been measured exactly yet, therefore we cannot exactly ascertain the size of the
dial plate it will admit. - the bell is to remain free to be rung.
-
the ropes for the weights will have to go directly back about 30 f then turn off at
a right angle horizontally about 21. f. to the hole of their descent, which is 50.
feet deep consequently upwards of 100 f. long -
the rope for ringing must do the same, but on the opposite side, where there are
stairs. - it must be wound up on the back or inside.
- and the hands must be set right by a key on the back or inside
- what will such a clock cost?
-
the tympanum is 9 f 4 I in the perpendicular 42. f. in the span measured within
the cornice. -
the hole for the descent of the weights is 5. f. diam. in the clear opening 48 f.
depth, i.e. from the level of [t]he axis of the dial plate to the ground -
Within the naked of the [drawing of triangle] formg. the tympanum, a circle of
52. I. rad. may be inscribd. but more than this may I beleive be obtained if
necessary for the pendulum, the whole interior of the roof of the Portico being
vacant. -
allowing the dial plate 5. f. diam. clear within the tympanum, imbedded in an
architrave of 10. I. breadth, there will still be a space or margin 12. I. wide in
it's narrowest parts. -
the dial plate must be of metal of course, as wood would soon rot, in addition
therefore to the 5. foot of dial plate which will shew there must be margin to be
imbedded in a rabbet of sfft breadth to hold it firm within the architrave.[693]
It was nearly the fall of the year before Jefferson received Coolidge's letter of 5 August
saying that he could engage Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to build "as good a
clock as can be found in america" for $800, "the movement to be of purest brass, and of cast
steel. . . . the dial would be made at the University, where it could more exactly be
proportioned to the tympanum of the pediment." For a small compensation the maker
himself promised to travel to Virginia to ensure its "being well set up."[694] Willard
estimated that it would take about two months to make the clock but the university's
financial plight prohibited the placing of the order until exactly one month before Jefferson's
death in 1826.[695] A temporary system thus was devised to be set up "before a window of
the book room" in one of the pavilions on the west lawn in early 1826: its "face so near the
window as that it's time may be read thro' the window from the outside," directed Jefferson,
and the bell fastened to the ridge of its roof. It was left to the proctor to "contrive how the
cord may be protected from the trickish ringings of the students."[696] Willard's clock was
destroyed in the fire that ravaged the Rotunda in 1895 but its companion, the bell, survived
because it had been replaced in 1886 by one cast by McShane & Company of Baltimore
after a "group of high-spirited students" removed it from its mounting, "turned it upside
down and filled it full of water. Left through an unusually cold night, the water froze,
expanded and cracked the bell. The formerly clear tones became harsh and discordant."[697]
692. TJ to Coolidge, 12 April 1825, ViU:TJ. In the summer of 1832 the university
purchased for $500 a slaved named Lewis Commodore to serve as bell ringer and janitor.
Anatomical Lewis, as he became known, was the subject of a Board of Visitors resolution
on 27 June 1846: "Lewis Commodore the faithful and valuable servant of this University,
with the exception of Drunkeness, which had well nigh ruined him, having seen his error, &
for five months last past, maintained the steady and consistent course of a reformed man"
(ViU:TJ). William Spinner served as janitor in 1826 and a Mr. Brockman in 1827 and 1828
(see Spinner's Loose Receipt, 11 February 1826, and Brockman's Loose Receipts, 12, 21
February, 8 May, 4 September, 18 October, and 5 December 1827, 24 January, 5 February,
24 July, 8 October, and 3 November 1828, all in ViU:PP).
694. Joseph Coolidge, Jr., and Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge to TJ, 5 August 1825,
ViU:TJ. Jefferson's docket on the letter reads in part "recd. Sep. 2." Coolidge said that "Mr
Willard is universally reputed a very honest and ingenious man; and, besides many
instruments for the University at Cambridge, has made the clock in the Representatives'
Chamber, at washington, and one for New York; both of which are highly spoken of."
Coolidge also told Jefferson that Willard, "to whom, when at washington, you, yourself, Sir,
granted several patents for improvements in horometry," was "the best clock-maker" in
Boston. Simon Willard (1753-1848) was the more important member of a famous
Massachusetts family of clockmakers that included brothers Benjamin (1743-1803) and
Aaron (1757-1844). The Williards specialized in making "'banjo' clocks, with a circular top,
narrow trunk, and wide rectangular base" (Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the
World, 382).
695. See Board of Visitors Minutes, 7 April 1826, in PPAmP:UVA Minutes, TJ to Joseph
Coolidge, Jr., 4, 15, 22 June 1826, Coolidge to TJ, 15 June 1826, in ViU:TJ, TJ to
Brockenbrough, ca May 1826, in DLC:TJ, 22 June 1826, in ViU:PP, Coolidge to
Brockenbrough, 7, 25 August, 3 October 1826, in ViU:PP, Coolidge to Alexander Garrett, 7
August, in ViU:PP, Brockenbrough to Henry A. S. Dearborn, 10 July 1826, in ViU:#9927,
Dearborn to Brockenbrough, 17 July, 24 September 1826, in ViU:PP, and Coolidge to John
Hartwell Cocke, 31 October 1826, in ViU:JHC.
696. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 3 January 1826. Jefferson wrote Thomas Voight of
Philadelphia on 21 September 1825 to inquire about both the permanent "large clock and
bell, such an one as may be heard 2. miles distinctly and habitually," and an "8. day clock in
a mahogany case neat, without expensive ornaments, but of excellent workmanship and a
loud bell" (ViU:TJ). Voight passed Jefferson's request on to Coleman Sellers who in turn
gave it to Joseph Saxton, the "first rate workman" at Isaiah Luken's machinist shop at 173
High Street in Philadelphia, who submitted a bid to the proctor that was rejected because of
its high price (Sellers and Saxton to Brockenbrough, 4 October, in ViU:PP, and TJ to Joseph
Coolidge, Jr., 13 October 1825, MHi:TJ; see also Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas
Jefferson, 18:342-46). Benjamin Waterhouse wrote Jefferson from Cambridge,
Massachusetts on 22 October 1825 to explain the mechanics of Simon Willard's clock and
bell system and to suggest the possibility of substituting for the bell a "Chinese Goonge" in
order to save money (DLC:TJ), and Jefferson informed his granddaughter on 14 November
that "you may assure the old gentleman [Willard] from me that he shall have the making of
it [the clock]" (TJ to Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, ViU:TJ; see also Betts and Bear,
Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 460-63). Bernard Peyton informed Brockenbrough on
19 October that he could obtain a clock "with a plain Mahogony case" for $75 (ViU:PP),
and on 26 October Peyton wrote again to say that he had ordered the temporary clock, to be
made "of the best materials, except the case, which is to be Pine, or some other cheap wood,
& got read as speedily as possible, say in a month" (ViU:PP). The temporary clock, placed
onboard Captain Thompson Payne's boat at Richmond on 13 February, arrived at Shadwell
by 7 March 1826 (see Bernard Peyton to Brockenbrough, 10 March 1826, in ViU:PP).
697. The history of the bell is taken from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, 25 November
1964. The old bell was stored in one of the Rotunda's coal cellars and, sometime previous to
the fire of 1895, moved to Brooks Hall. "Between 1895 and 1948," the paper also stated,
"the identity of the bell had become obscured. It came to be regarded as a copy of the
original bell. During renovation of the Brooks Museum in 1948, the bell was removed to the
basement of the Bayly Memorial Museum. It was once again removed in 1956 to make
room for classes. It was the last move to Clark Hall that apparently went unrecorded. The
bell had been forgotten and was considered lost." Architectural students Peter Hodson and
Calder Loth discovered the bell in a "subterranean hiding place . . . resting between two lead
statues of Greek maidens" in November 1964 and it was returned to the Rotunda to be
placed on permanent display on 1 December 1964.
|
Chapter 10
The Building Campaign of 1825
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |