Stopping the 'wakeful' whistle and clock
When historic tradition becomes an inconvenience it usually loses, particularly when the foe is the influential owner of the finest hotel in town. Archer Payne’s guests at the Hotel Johnson groused about the Power Plant’s 6 a.m. whistle, nor did they appreciate the striking of the courthouse clock across the street. Payne eventually went to the city council, asked for an immediate cessation of these sleep-disturbing noises, and got it.
A month later our paper carried an article about a petition “signed by 108 indignant citizens” demanding reinstatement. The following article appeared in April, 1954:
A petition signed by 108 indignant citizens was presented to the city council at the meeting Monday night by Harry Draper. It protested the cessation of the blowing of the 6 a.m. whistle at the Power Plant and the striking of the court house clock and asked that they be reinstated in the daily life of Red Oak.
The petition stated that, being informed by the newspapers that only one citizen of Red Oak was responsible for this action, they wrote: “We believe that no one person should be permitted to exercise this much influence with any civic governing body so that such citizen may have this action taken without regard of the other citizens of our city. Both of these indications of the time of day have a historic value to most of us. The blowing of the 6 a.m. whistle was begun in the year 1880 and has continued until ordered by you to stop a few days ago. The whistle was started so that we people could arise and arrive at our work at the hour of 7 a.m. We depend upon that whistle to waken us and get us to work on time. Further, the court house clock was installed many, many years ago by the Village Improvement Society, which group was an early group similar to the present Monday Club and probably a fore-runner of the latter. We citizens are within hearing distance of both of these time indicators, and we depend upon them to assist us to arrive at our daily labors on time, and in addition to such function, we do really enjoy and appreciate the melodious striking of the clock.”
The article went on to say that Archer Payne was the complainant. The council, of course, agreed that a restful night’s sleep for weary travelers was of greater concern than melodious clock chimes or the shriek of the 1880 go-to-work whistle. The paper doesn’t say so, but we assume there followed a temporary increase in alarm clock sales.
Roy Marshall is a local historian. E-mail him at news@redoakexpress.com.