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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCorinne Lockhart and the Clock Tower

Corinne Lockhart and the Clock Tower

I have known Corinne Lockhart for around sixty years. Back when Herbert Lockhart III was born in 1956, I owned a dry cleaning plant across the street from their store. The first time she brought her new son with her to work I was standing in front of the cleaning plant when she got out of the car that drove her to their store. She showed me her new baby.
I also belonged to the Friends of Denmark Society and we met many times at functions in Denmark and on St. Thomas. I used to attend the monthly meetings of the Society, which were held with her as president.
I was on the trip to Denmark when Corinne had us visit the yellow brick factory. When she told them we needed 1000 yellow bricks to replace the original eroding yellow bricks in the clock tower at Fort Christian, they were pleased to replace them at no cost. Corinne made the arrangements for them to be transported to St. Thomas on the Danish training ship Danmark at no cost. When they arrived, they were delivered to the Court Yard at Fort Christian, and she hosted the party to receive them.
The old clock in the tower was driven originally by weights on chains that had to be wound-up every day. That was changed out and an electric motor replaced the drive; electric lights replaced the kerosene lamps that illuminated the hands so that the time could be seen at night. The hands are rotated by a shaft, which is geared down to one revolution per hour for the minute hand and one revolution every 12 hours for the hour hand. There is also attached a mechanism that strikes the hours and half-hours on a big bell. The sound of the bell carries quite a distance.
A public works crew services the clock. One night, when I was Commissioner of Public Safety, I noticed that one hand was 20 minutes late. I went up in the clock tower to see how serious the matter was. I found one of the setscrews was slack. I was carrying a penknife with a screwdriver. I set the hand to the right position and tightened the screw. It saved Public Works having to pay a repair crew to do the job.

Jack M. Monsanto
Head Island, S.C

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