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Residents urge city to keep Spartanburg downtown clock tower in place
Summary
Multiple residents said the downtown clock tower is a community symbol and urged City Council not to relocate it; speakers described fundraising by schoolchildren and offered alternatives for maintenance costs.
Several residents used the council’s public-comment period to urge Spartanburg City Council not to move the downtown clock tower, describing it as a community symbol funded by local schoolchildren and civic volunteers.
Kimberly Branch, who said she lives in Woodruff and is a lifetime Spartanburg resident, said she started a petition opposing relocation and presented what she said were 1,452 signatures. “There’s a possibility that the Spartanburg Downtown Clock Tower may be moved or relocated,” Branch said, and she asked council to consider the South Carolina Heritage Act and community fundraising when deciding what to do.
Tony Eubanks, of Roebuck, told council the clock tower appears on local business advertising and seasonal decorations and recalled community fundraising as a sign of local attachment. “It’s another symbol of how important it is to our community,” he said.
Wesley Stoddard, who identified himself as a longtime resident and former assistant city attorney, described the clock’s origins and recounted that schoolchildren raised funds to reintroduce the clock after it had been stored in the 1950s. Don Bramlett said he has personal experience maintaining the clock and described technical reasons the structure can be costly to maintain, including coordination of its four faces. Bramlett suggested options such as limiting the number of functioning faces to reduce maintenance costs and said he would not object if the structure were moved to a new site with green space.
Council members acknowledged residents’ concerns during the meeting. The council did not take a formal vote on the clock tower during the public-comment period; staff later addressed the clock tower during a separate downtown planning presentation.
Speakers mentioned historical connections, past fundraising and volunteers’ work; residents asked for public involvement and oversight of any decision that might affect the tower.
Council members and staff said they would continue the conversation and follow up with residents and the bicentennial committee as the broader downtown design and timing questions progress.
