Who Owns the Tower?

The Tower project was always a cooperative endeavor between the church and the Village. When the Presbyterian Church burned, the congregation lost its building, and the community lost a steeple clock that, with the aid of Marietta’s first set of nine bells, chimed the quarter hour. Marietta planned to replace the chime of bells, but her interest was in tunes to be played by a bell-ringer at evening and special occasions. She didn’t intend to pay for a clock. Nevertheless, people, before cellphones or even electricity, had come to depend upon a clock at their four-corners. So, Village Trustees installed a Village Clock in the tower. (For minutes of their meeting, please see the Village Clock section.) It seems that people in the area understood that the church didn’t possess the Tower, rather the Tower was intended for the community.

If the tower and its contents, as Marietta Hay intended, was for “the people of the dear little village” who, exactly, would pick up the quarterly reports of the endowments (see “Marietta’s Libraries” on Library page, also “The Legacy” on The Landmark & The Legacy page) that were meant to maintain the Tower? Who would write the checks for the librarian, the bell-ringer, and the new books that might be ordered for the library? Who would wind the clock? The Clock clearly was the responsibility of the Village. The other responsibilities were taken on by the Presbyterian Society.

Later, Hay Memorial Library Association elected its own board and eventually moved to its own building, taking half of the Hay trust to help with continuation of the Library. The church remained steward of the community’s Tower and bells with the help of the other half of the trust.

Who is the Community? Anyone who drives into Sackets Harbor and looks up at the Village Clock in the Tower to check the time is part of our Community. Anyone who has enjoyed the patriotic songs played on the bells on July Fourth is also part of our Community. One list of members of our Community can be read on the walls of the Tower, where many citizens have climbed the stairs and written their names on the walls from as far back as 1930 to as recently as 2020. Most importantly, anyone who would be saddened if there were no tower at the corner of Broad and Main streets, is a member of our community.