Monday, September 1, 2025–1:20 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
It is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of Rome, and it’s undergoing a facelift.
Work is progressing on Rome’s Clock Tower, and that work is nearing completion, according to Rome City Clerk Joe Smith.
“This project has certainly taken longer than we wanted and had anticipated,” he said. “Ultimately, it is a ‘get it right’ project rather than a ‘get it done fast’ project, but we are ready for it to wrap up. The major pieces left are simply placing the new hands on the clock faces. We have new clockworks on each of the four faces, and we also have new hands to go along with the clockworks. They are ready to be put in by the clock company.”
Smith tells us a little more about the new clock hands and numbers on the face of the clock.
“They are gilded in a thin layer of gold that we think will really look great,” he said. “There has been evidence supplied to us that the hands and numbers were gold at one point, probably before any of us were alive, but at one point, they were gold. So, we are going back with that, and we think it’s really going to look great, especially when the sun hits it. Once the hands are on, the scaffolding can come down, and there is some deck work to be done under the scaffolding, and that would conclude the work at that point.”
Smith classifies the work as renovation, but maybe a bigger part of that is preservation.
“Rome is a little over 190 years old, and the Clock Tower is a little over 150 years old,” he said. So, it has been around for the majority of Rome’s history, and we want it to be around for many, many more decades in Rome’s history. Those of us who have been to the top know it is the best view in Rome.”
As a final step, plans are to replace the old cross-tie steps leading from the parking lot up to the main sidewalk with a much more useful set of concrete steps with a handrail.
They want to wait until tall of the scaffolding is removed before starting that work.
