Colgate Clock (Jersey City)

40°42′43.3″N 74°02′02″W

The clock on a morning

The Colgate Clock is an octagonal clock facing the Hudson River near Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey. The clock has a diameter of 50 feet (15 m).[1] It was located atop of what was once the headquarters of the Colgate-Palmolive, until 1985, when it was moved to a ground-level location 1,300 feet (400 m) south of that building, which was demolished and replaced with the Goldman Sachs Tower.

History

The Colgate Clock once perched atop the Colgate plant at 85-99 Hudson Street in Jersey City, New Jersey.[2] This clock was built in 1924 to replace an earlier clock designed by Colgate engineer Warren Davey and constructed by the Seth Thomas Clock Company for Colgate's centennial in 1906. After it was replaced, the earlier clock was relocated to a Colgate factory in Clarksville, Indiana.[1][3][4] The Jersey City clock was maintained by John A. Winters from the 1930s until his retirement in 1976.^[citation needed]

As of 2005, the Colgate Clock stands on an otherwise empty lot. The other buildings in the complex were demolished in 1985 when Colgate left. The lot is located along the Hudson River waterfront and the clock itself is 100 metres (330 ft) south of the Goldman Sachs Tower, once the tallest skyscraper in the state of New Jersey. The construction of that building in the early 2000s forced a relocation of the clock southward. At that time, the size of the Colgate advertisement attached to it was reduced to comply with the Hudson River No Billboard law, and Goldman Sachs agreed to maintain the clock.^[citation needed]

The clock is a mandatory reporting point for flights below Class B airspace in the Hudson River VFR corridor.[5]

In 2013, the clock was refurbished, outfitted with LED lights, and reinstalled on the waterfront near the Goldman-Sachs tower.[6]

Gallery

• 
  The original location of the clock
• 
  The clock in 2007
• 
  The rear of the clock, with Lower Manhattan in the background
• 
  The clock at night, with the Goldman Sachs Tower in the foreground
• 
  The clock and the bench at its foot. Visible in the background are the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal and the Statue of Liberty.
• 
  Inscribed on the bench at the foot of the clock are the words "The Colgate Clock: Marking the Passage of Time since 1908."

See also

• Colgate Clock (Indiana)
• List of public art in Jersey City, New Jersey

References

1. Gray, Christopher (July 17, 1988). "The Colgate Clock; Winding Down to a Move for a Jersey City Beacon". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
2. "Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building Nos. B-7 & B-8, 85-89 Hudson Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ". Library of Congress. 2015. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
3. Lyons, Richard D. (July 9, 1989). "Jersey City Landmark; Now It's Time to Move the Colgate Clock". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
4. Kaulessar, Ricardo (October 15, 2007). "The big clock by the river Colgate Clock still an icon in Jersey City". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
5. "New York Special Flight Rules Area for Flight Below Class B Airspace" (PDF). Schodack Aviation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
6. McDonald, Terrence T. (September 16, 2013). "Famed Colgate Clock returning to Jersey City waterfront". NJ.com. Retrieved July 20, 2018.

External links

• Karnoutsos, Carmela. "Colgate Clock". New Jersey City University. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014.
• Carroll, Joseph R.; Hellman, Geoffrey T.; Boutwell, Jane; Gill, Brendan (April 26, 1957). "Cynosure". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014.
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-71-B, "Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building Nos. B-7 & B-8" (original location)