The Great Northern Clock Tower

When it comes to iconic structures, Manhattan has the Empire State Building. San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge.  Rome, the Coliseum. Boston, Fenway Park. Well, that last one may be debatable, but it got me thinking. If I had to choose one structure that best exemplifies Spokane, what would it be? The Davenport Hotel? River Park Square? The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist? Good choices all, but on further reflection, I decided my vote would go with the Great Northern Clock Tower.

More than a tower, literally:

Both figuratively and literally, Spokane’s clock tower is more than a mere tower. Literally, it was the crowning centerpiece of a larger building, the Great Northern Railroad Depot, completed in 1902. The railroad itself, the Great Northern line, was cobbled together by James J. Hill, nicknamed the Empire Builder. It made its way westward from St. Paul, Minnesota, arriving in Spokane in the early 1890s (more about Hill in a future blog). Though not the first railroad to reach Spokane – the Northern Pacific arrived in early 1880s – it was without doubt a major contributor to the town’s growth.

Courtesy MAC archives

A great railroad needed an impressive depot, and $150,000 went into making Spokane’s depot the finest west of Chicago. A sturdy brick and sandstone building of three stories, it was situated on Havermale Island in the middle of the Spokane River. According to the Spokane History Timeline, the tower rose 155 feet in the center of the building. Each of the four faces of the hand-cranked clock measured nine feet across, making it the largest clock tower in the west. The pendulum was eight feet long, and the weight which powered it weighed in at 500 pounds.

More than a tower, figuratively:

At the turn of the twentieth century, Spokane prospered as an important railroad hub, connecting mining and agricultural districts and bringing in an influx of settlers and tourists. But over the decades, rail transportation declined, and residents began to look at the downtown tangle of tracks, trestles, and warehouses as an eyesore and the traffic-stopping trains as a maddening inconvenience.  City officials decided to host a world’s fair in part as a way to clean up the land around the Spokane River and its dramatic falls. Through herculean efforts chronicled by Jim Kershner in an article for History Link, Expo ’74 came off successfully. The railroad complexes were moved, the depots were demolished. Public concern saved the Great Northern Clock Tower. Along with Spokane Falls and the U.S. Pavilion canopy, it became a popular icon of the fair.

Today, the tower remains a common visual for the city of Spokane, reproduced everywhere from tourist brochures to movies. The clock continues to show the time, wound by hand on a weekly basis. In addition, it is an historical symbol for the railroads that gave life to the city by the river.