Beale Memorial Clock Tower

Beale Memorial Clock Tower. . , The Beale Memorial Clock Tower was a gift to the City of Bakersfield from Truxtun Beale in memory of his mother, Mary Edwards Beale., Dedicated on April 2, 1904, the clock tower originally stood in the center of the intersection at Chester Avenue and 17th Street in downtown Bakersfield., In the summer of 1952, a series of earthquakes shook Kern County causing extensive damage to the clock tower. The clock tower was demolished in the quake’s aftermath. Only the original clock works, bell, iron stairway, balcony railings and arch grillwork were saved., In 1961, a group of local citizens formed the Beale Memorial Clock Tower Restoration Committee to build a replica of the clock tower. The original pieces of the clock tower were incorporated into the rising masonry. The reconstructed clock tower was dedicated at the Kern County Museum on December 13, 1964., [photo captions follow:], Mary Edwards Beale, circa 1876., Beale Memorial Clock Tower, circa 1915., Truxton Beale was a lawyer, owner of the Tejon Ranch and served as a United States Minister to foreign nations, circa 1930., Beale Memorial Clock Tower demolition after a series of earthquakes in 1952.