American Tallcase Clock

The goal of the Museum’s American Art Initiative is to provide each of our visitors with the opportunity to experience and gain an understanding of the full historical range of American Art. To that end, we are dramatically expanding our Permanent Collection and working to create a new permanent exhibition that will present a two-hundred year survey of American fine & decorative art. Our very first purchase for this new exhibition is a handsome, early American Tallcase Clock (c.1820) which was owned by a prominent Fort Wayne couple, successful hotelier William McKinnie and his wife Georgie Fleming McKinnie. William was preceded in the hotel business in Fort Wayne by his father, Captain McKinnie who moved here from Philadelphia after the Civil War and operated hotels and restaurants that catered to the railroad traffic. Georgie’s family also prospered in Fort Wayne — her father was a well-loved teacher before becoming the publisher of the News-Sentinel and then he later became owner of the railroad.

Several things make this grand clock a special find. First, because we could clearly trace this clock’s provenance, we were able to determine that it was in original condition (except for a few very minor repairs) and had not been restored. We were also able to ascertain that the “works” of this particular clock were indeed intended for this particular cherry case. In a clock of this vintage it’s not uncommon to find the works of one clock have been switched to a different case. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of this marvelous tallcase is that we believe it was made in the workshop of one of America’s greatest clockmakers, Seth Thomas. As a teen, Thomas apprenticed for several years with clockmaker Eli Terry in Wolcott, Connecticut, first learning cabinet-making and then how to craft the delicate wooden gears and mechanisms that comprise a clock’s works. By 1810, he had saved enough money to partner with fellow apprentice Silas Hoadley to buy Eli Terry’s business from him in 1810. The two young men worked diligently and, in just three years, Thomas had saved enough money to strike out on his own in nearby Plymouth Hollow. We believe that the McKinnie Clock was made by Thomas in his new Plymouth Hollow shop in approximately 1820.

With the generous assistance of Gene & Sarah Philips and Bruce Chaney, we were able to acquire the McKinnie Clock as the first new acquisition of the American Art Initiative. This splendid example of American clockmaking is now on permanent display in the Museum. We invite you to come in soon to see this fabulous new addition to our Collection.