Wheeler Town Clock

Jerome Wheeler donated this clock in 1889 for the opening of the Manitou Mineral Water Bottling Company. Cast by the J. L. Mott Iron Works of Trenton, New Jersey, it also functioned as a fountain, with water flowing from stylized dolphin heads into bowls, including lower bowls for dogs. The statue on top is the Greek goddess Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, keeper of the elixir of eternal youth for the gods of Mt. Olympus, shown with the pitcher from which it was served; her selection represented the healing properties of the city's mineral water. Born in 1841 in Troy, New York, Wheeler came to Colorado after serving in the Civil War and marrying Harriet Macy Valentine. He had been a vice president of the family business, New York's Macy's department store, before coming west in 1883 for Mrs. Wheeler's health. He became a millionaire through Leadville and Aspen mining investments and founded banks in Aspen, Colorado City, and Manitou Springs, while also helping organize the Manitou Mineral Water Company, the Colorado City Glass Factory, the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway, and the Colorado Midland Railroad. He lost much of his fortune in the 1893 Silver Panic and through lawsuits, but when his bank failed he repaid his investors dollar for dollar, and after a 1913 flood he sent the city $10,000 in aid. In 1991, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Colorado Centennial Chapter #100 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors restored the clock with donations from local citizens and businesses, repainting it, recreating stained glass faces from historic photos, recasting missing dolphin heads, creating new interior works and illumination, and completing the little park with new landscaping. The clock is listed as contributing to Manitou Springs' 1983 National Register and 1980 Local Historic Preservation Districts.

Manitou Springs, Colorado · United States