Beavercreek’s commemorative clock tower to be repaired

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The manufacturer, Verdin Clock Company, will make the repairs at their Cincinnati shop at a cost of $13,000. Thonnerieux said it’s being paid for through the city’s fund to maintain and repair streets.

The project has been delayed slightly because of flooding in the Cincinnati area, which affected the Verdin Clock Company.

“It should be removed sometime this week,” Thonnerieux said. “They will have it for a couple of weeks, then it will be returned.”

The clock tower was purchased and installed in 2005 when the city celebrated its 25th anniversary. The project was funded through donations, and the dozens of people who contributed have their names printed on the plates on the sides of the tower.

The idea for the clock tower originated more than a decade earlier after a city street worker, Charlie Berwager, was doing surveying work and struck by a vehicle while working in the roadway in 1992.

A fund was started to get money to buy and install a clock tower back then as a way to commemorate Berwager’s death, according to Councilwoman Julie Vann.

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“People at that time wished to put a clock up on his behalf, but they were not able to raise enough money and the idea kind of fizzled,” Vann said. “It was a really good idea, it just didn’t come to fruition.”

Vann said when planning the 25th anniversary festivities, she and others remembered the clock tower idea and decided to try to raise the funds again.

This time, those who donated received miniature replicas of the clock tower that can be displayed on a desk.

Officials said the remaining funds that were left over after the clock was installed have been used to maintain the clock, but those funds have dried up.

Vann said the old-world style of the clock’s aesthetics is a testament to the Beavercreek area’s history.

“That corner was a major intersection in Beavercreek even in the early 1800s,” she said. “The township has been functioning all along. There were buildings there.”