DeKalb Times

An Illinois state representative who helped the DeKalb Rotary Club mark its centennial year during a ceremony near the 100-year-old DeKalb Soldiers and Sailors Memorial clock expressed his approval of the clock’s restoration.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) said on Facebook that he is excited about the DeKalb Rotary Club’s Centennial Project to restore the clock at First Street and Lincoln Highway in Memorial Park.

“At a time when our opinions talk past each other, at a time where our neighbors are frustrated against our neighbors, we need to come to places like this where we have commonality, and we can disagree openly without dissension,” Keicher said in a video of the April 10 ceremony on the DeKalb Rotary Club’s Facebook page. “I’m hopeful that people 100 years from now will be having a ceremony exactly like this to marvel at the work that the Rotary Club did to keep this running for 100 years.”

The ceremony on April 10 commemorated the 100th day of the Rotary Club’s centennial year, Keicher’s website said.

Donations will be accepted for the clock’s repairs, which have been estimated to cost approximately $12,000, DeKalb Rotary Club said on its Facebook page.

“A hundred years ago the clock was paid for with donations from the public to honor those who fought in World War I,” the DeKalb Rotary said on Facebook. “A hundred years later it will be brought back to working order with donations.”

The E. Howard & Co. clockmakers of Boston manufactured the four-face, post clock, Lumichron Commercial Clocks, which is among clock companies that examined the clock, said on its website. It’s made of cast iron, and features a porcelain glaze finish and gold highlights.