Prescott’s clock tower history began in 1887 when the town’s first modern brick school was built on Elm Street and local teacher Roxanne Bailey donated the money to buy the first tower clock in Prescott for the new school. In 1924, a south addition was built to provide more classrooms. On December 8, 1935, the school burned to the ground; while the Prescott and Hastings fire departments could not save the 1887 building and concentrated on the 1924 addition, the bell rang for the last time at 3:00 am, and at 3:20 am the clock and bell fell into the ruins, ending 48 years of service. In 1937, residents who missed the clock and bell raised $2,100 for a replacement clock and bell identical to the lost one, repaired the 1924 addition, built a new structure on the old school site, and erected a steel clock tower over the main entrance. After more than 25 years, the clock’s plywood faces deteriorated, repairs in 1977 proved temporary because of water leakage, and by the 1980s the clock had stopped completely while the bell and hammer were removed because of roof weight restrictions. In 2003, after more than 15 silent years and deterioration of the steel tower frame, the tower and clockworks were removed from the school and donated to the Prescott Historical Society, which began restoring the 1937 Seth Thomas clock. The restoration was completed in 2004, and a new tower for the city was constructed in 2006 by the Prescott Area Historical Society. The restored 1937 Seth Thomas clock was the second Seth Thomas tower clock installed in Prescott, number 3176, and one of the last of its style built before World War II ended the era of large mechanical tower clocks. Bell Park now holds two McShane bells from Baltimore: a 3,500-pound bell cast in 1878 for the Methodist Church and brought to Prescott by steamboat, and a 350-pound bell cast in 1937 for the school clock tower and brought by train.