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The Adam Matthews Foundation started work on restoring this great and historic Louisville landmark in March of 2004. With the help of many generous donors, volunteers and supporters the progress has moved forward and the results have been met with success! Feel free to look around and come by and see the progress. The clock, while under construction, is located at Bowman Field next to the Drivers License Bureau on Dutchman's Lane. A site will not be chosen for the clock until the project is completed and it is fully determined the clock can run without any further work or repairs.

Historic Figures - Track: Daniel Boone • King Louis (Louisville's Name Sake) • George Rogers Clark (Founder of Louisville) • Thomas Jefferson (The County is named after Thomas Jefferson) • Belle of Louisville

Historic Figures - Bandstand: Mary Anderson - World Famous Voluptuous Actress • Henry Watterson - Newspaper Editor • Zachary Taylor - General and U.S President • D.W. Griffith - Hollywood Director • Oliver Cooke - Trumpeter
Project Timeline:

4,528 man hours as of February 2012:

Fall 2003: Restoration planning started. The clock was surveyed at 4 locations in over 1,000 pieces.

March 12, 2004: Clock moved to Bowman Field to start renovation.

Summer of 2004: It was determined there was no master documentation, schematics drawings etc. detailing the clock. So the first step we took was to lay out the clock in sections to evaluate the condition of each piece and to document what all was there. We had to dismantle pieces, mark them and try to put them into a configuration to determine if it was intact.

November 2004: The detail work of reconstruction began with the start of the sandblasting. The clock was been broken down into five sections: Clock Tower, Band Stand, Track, Frame and Figures. The first item to be reconstructed in full was be the Clock Tower.

December 2004: We entered into the phase of rebuilding the clock tower structure which proved to be far worse than expected. We moved forward at a far slower pace as a result of the tedious work.

2005: See the sections, pictures and links down this page.

2006: See the sections, pictures and links down this page.

2007: See the sections, pictures and links down this page.

2008: See the sections, pictures and links down this page.

2009: See the sections, pictures and links on this Page

MEDIA ARTICLES:
Moving Day March 12, 2004: Thanks to the people at Integral Structures for donating a crew of up 4 workers all day to move the clock to one central location at Bowman where everyone can see it's progress.

Click on the picture to the left (or here) to see more pictures and details.
November 19, 2004 (Left): The detail work is now taking place with the stripping of all of the old paint. What we are finding are numerous stress cracks and decay in numerous areas of the aluminum due to the casting. This is the first time since the clock was made that anyone has been able to see the true condition of the clock.

Click on the picture to the left (or here) to see more.
November 23, 2004 (Left): Sandblasting of the clock tower as it nears an end. Work will now begin on welding structural cracks and then prep for painting. The stain glass is now finished undergoing it's restoration. The clock works are underway with their repairs.
November 29, 2004 (Left): Sandblasting of both the clock tower and D.W. Griffith are 100% complete. Work is now starting on the welding of all structural cracks. Some complications have set in with the welding as the metal is thin and very cold. Louisville Welding Supply has stepped up to offer their expert advice and high quality equipment!
December 17, 2004 (Left): Phase 1 nears completion!!! We worked very hard and overcame the welding and structural problems. The quality of the aluminum casting was very poor and has many impurities. We had been struggling with this losing ground on our time line. GOOD NEWS! We overcame the issues and Phase 1 will be finished ahead of schedule. We will announce this to the community before December 31, maybe even by Christmas! What a great gift to the community during the Holidays.
Click on any of the pictures above for more information on Phase 1.
February 15, 2005 (Left): The clock reached another milestone today as it was mounted on the bandstand. The clock was set on top by Kevin Kneir, Kenny Machtloff, Lou Singhiser and Earl Kraus. The clock is now keeping very accurate time and is lit up with temporary lighting until we obtain a more permanent lighting system. Work is now starting on the mechanics of the figures and the columns that supported the bandstand.

Click on the picture to the left (or here) to see more about Phase 2.
May 11, 2005: The figures for the Bandstand are nearing completion of their all new mechanicals. Work has started on the frame and the track. At this point we are about 3 months ahead of schedule. Earl Kraus and Lou Singhiser have been working very hard to complete the sandblasting. Kevin Kneir has 4 of the 5 bandstand figures up and running.

Movie of the track being disassembled. (1.5mb file requires Quicktime for viewing)

New movie of Figures in action (Large 22mb file (1 minute for high speed) requires Quicktime for viewing)

Click here for more pictures of our progress
June 18, 2005: Paint Party: Arranged by Steve Wiser, over 15 people showed up for the morning to help us paint the columns, trim and more. After months of sand blasting, thanks to the generous use of an air system from Sunbelt Rental, painting started on time. Click on the picture or here to see more.
August 5, 2005: Track Set Up Day: With the help of Integral Structures, RSC, Sunbelt Rental and many volunteers for the first time in 16 years since it's dismantling the clock track was straightened out, put back as one whole from the two halves it was cut into and it was erected!. Thanks to the precise skills of Integral Structures and their crew the day was a huge success!

This page has LOTS of pictures well worth seeing! Click on the picture or here to see more.
The bandstand made it's debut at the 2005 Adam Matthews Balloon Festival. Click here for Picture 1 and for Picture 2
August 2005 - August 2006: Work Work Work We set up the track in August 2005 and spent a few months aligning, making adjustments, fixing welds, replacing aluminum. evaluating the decorative skirting, determining the rebuild of the exterior skirting and running through the mechanicals. We took off 3 months in the summer heat and 2 months in the winter due to the winter chill. August 2006, work is now taking place on the exterior skirting stop by anytime to see the progress.
September 2006 - January 2007: And still more work. The clock was displayed at the 2006 Adam Matthews Festival. A picture to the left shows it in all it's majesty. Click on it or the two below for larger images. Work is now in the final stages on the track and 5 track figure mechanics, drive system and computer to run the clock. This is by far the most detailed stage.
February 2007 - July 2007: Final Stages All five of the bandstand figures and all five of the track figures are fully restored and functioning. Final work on the actual race track mechanics for each of the five track figures is in the works.

Special thanks to F. N. Sheppard for donating the belts, W.R Martin for the gears, Kaman for the motors and gear boxes, Fred Gatterdam for advice and General Welding for steel, aluminum and the labor to transform them.
First track figure runs again!

We are very excited that we have conquered the 30 year old problem of mechanically running the track figures! We have successfully re-engineered and re-designed a dependable maintenance free drive system running the track figures, without affecting any of the artistic integrity. Click on the Thomas Jefferson Rides picture for a video sneak peek!

Video requires Apple Quicktime to view. For a Free download for Windows Click Here, for Mac Click here
Clock Runs for 1st Time in 23 years

Major Milestone! For the first time in 25 years the clock ran a successful run around the track on 8/9/07. Click here for more info and to see details on seeing the first run of a clock figure around the track.

Video requires Apple Quicktime to view. For a Free download for Windows Click Here, for Mac Click here
May - September 2008: We are now installing the actual running timing belts for the main clock figures. Each belt is 100 feet long and is accurate within a second each day. We are working each day weather permitting.

November 2008: Lou Singhiser is appointed lead Foreman of the project. Lou takes over to help accelerate the final phases of the clock project. Work is taking place on the second drive train running the clock figures around the track. Track 1 is complete with minimal re-design needed, the Belle of Louisville runs very smoothly around the track in all types of weather and under light or heavy loads.
2009:

January: WOW what a wild winter, Louisville had it's largest ice storm in 100 years. Work was stopped due to the severe cold weather and ice storm.

February: Machinery Specialties was been hired to help with the final stages of the clock track figure drive system. Machinery Specialties machine shop capabilities are very precise and their design work is exceptional.

April: The Belle of Louisville and Track 1 are complete. This is a major mile stone as it proves for the first time since the clock was built it can run with a zero maintenance design and in all types of weather other than packed snow or ice. Here is the Belle of Louisville running around the track complete.

May: We finally ended the welding on the main track. When we went to run the track figures around with the final design precision sleds it was apparent we had minor gaps (less than a 1/16th of an inch) and these had to be fixed to run the sleds. This took over 300 man hour to cut out, rebuild and reweld.

June: All 5 belts are installed for the first time. All 5 sleds are on the track for the first time. All five new drive systems are on for the first time. Work is taking place to align each figure so they can pass each other at any location on the track and not hit each other. When originally built the track was too small and they hit each other causing the drive to fail eventually.

June 17, 2009: For the first time since the clock was dismantled and quit running over 23 years ago it ran today will all five track figures, 5 bandstand figures as well as kept accurate time! Check it out...

July - October: Worke preoceeded to fine tune the clock and reassure the mechanical design worked well. All tesst passed with results far surpassing the intended design.

2010-2011:

For the final stages of the clock work to take place a location for it's home needs to be found. The Louisville Zoo was a site that was evaluated, though after 9 months it was determined it would not work. So plans are now looking at Downtown again as was originally intended. The best location for optimum viewing is the water front park area.

2012:

Through the coordination and efforts of Steve Wiser the clock site of Theater Square at 4th and Broadway was choosen. On April 289, 2012 the Louisville Clock was moved to it's permanent home on 4th Street.