Ferry riders would look up at the tall clock mounted on a street lamp at the corner of Lake Street and Kirkland Avenue to make sure they were on time.

A copper plate below the clock etched with a map helped commuters determine if they would get off the ferry at Newcastle, Mercer Slough, Seattle or the various other places where the Kirkland ferries stopped in the 1930’s. An illuminated red arrow directed them west to the ferry dock.

More than 75 years later, Kirkland resident Sue Contreras noticed the clock still held the same time as it did the last several times she passed it: 1:33 p.m.

“It’s bugged me for a while that our street clock hasn’t worked – ever – in my memory,” said Contreras, who has begun a movement to refurbish the historic ferry clock in downtown Kirkland. She has teamed up with Kirkland Heritage Society members and some City of Kirkland staff to get the clock lit and running once again.

But the effort is also to restore an important piece of Kirkland history.

Captain John L. Anderson donated the ferry clock to the city on Jan. 1, 1935, said Loita Hawkinson, KHS president.

Anderson was a prominent character in the development of Lake Washington transportation, both as a steamboat operator, ship builder and lakefront resort owner, said Matt Mccauley, KHS member.

During the pre-automotive era when Kirkland transportation depended so much on the waterways, Anderson built up his fleet of lake steamers. By 1907, the so-called shrewd businessman monopolized the Lake Washington water transportation industry, according to KHS archives.

Capt. Harrie Tompkins officially presented the ferry clock on behalf of his longtime friend, Anderson, on Jan. 8, 1935. Mayor Irving W. Gates accepted the clock, which was built by Fred Zable at the East Side Sign Company. Both Tompkins’ and Gates’ granddaughters are currently KHS members, Hawkinson noted.

But this is not the first time the clock has broke down.

According to a timeline that Hawkinson put together, the clock first quit in 1941, but watchmakers quickly repaired it.

The clock shuddered its last tick again in 1945. In a tongue-and-cheek newspaper article, the Kirkland Commercial Club members covered the landmark with a waterproof shroud and “placed all further arrangements in the hands of Chet Green and J.R. Clark” – Kirkland’s morticians.

Art Needham of Needham’s Electric later salvaged the timepiece and Capt. Tompkins paid for the repair.

The ferry clock was again remodeled to include a copper face plate in 1987. The city foot the entire bill, as Mayor Doris Cooper said the downtown businesses had already paid enough in the various efforts to paint and clean up the structure, according to a Journal-American news article.

Contreras recently contacted Nat Williams of Spokane Clock and Vince Isaacson of Lake Street Diamond got the city to provide a ladder high enough so Williams could get a look at the clock.

In September, Mark Padgett, with the city’s Public Works Department, dismantled the timepiece. It is currently in pieces at the city maintenance center awaiting possible restoration.

Finding money to fund the restoration is the group’s biggest challenge.

Padgett said while this is an “awesome” project that he is glad to help out with, the city currently cannot fund the project.

The group said the restoration project will cost more than $7,000 and is working with a local company to find out the exact estimate.

Robert Burke, past KHS president, is looking for grant opportunities to help fund the project. KHS is also donating $500 toward the effort, and Hawkinson is personally donating $100.

Hawkinson also noted that as KHS members are going through the archives, there is currently not a lot of information about the clock itself.

Burke hopes that anyone in the Kirkland community who may have more information about the clock – such as what color it was originally and what the original face plate looked like – will share their knowledge and/or photos with KHS so that the group can restore the clock to its original state.

“To my knowledge, we still do not have (a photo) that shows the clock with the actual ferry schedule,” said Hawkinson, noting her excitement about the restoration project. “… You know photos are out there with all the parades Kirkland had – someone has it (the clock) in the background and someone has more history.”

More information

To find out more information on how to donate to the ferry clock restoration project, please contact the Reporter at 425-822-9166, ext. 5050. If you have photos of the clock or information you would like to share about the timepiece, email: letters@kirklandreporter.com