BIDDEFORD — A new $270,000 initiative to restore and preserve the historic Lincoln Mill clock tower has been launched in Biddeford.

Renaming it as the Biddeford Mills Clock Tower, initiative organizers say that the clock tower is an irreplaceable symbol of Biddeford history and needs to be restored to its rightful place in the community while raising awareness of the significant role it played in the industrial history of New England.

The Friends of the Biddeford Mills Clock Tower committee members include Dan LeBlond (restoration construction manager), George Collord (historical and restoration expert), Louise Merriman (chair), Julian Schlaver (downtown liaison), Sandra Schuld (co-chair), David Douglass (historic preservation consultant/analyst) and Scott Joslin (mill liaison).

Merrimen said that the committee intends to restore the clock tower and then position it as a gateway to the Mill District on Biddeford’s RiverWalk with an outdoor exhibit adjacent to the Clock Tower as an educational resource and tourist destination by 2020.

“The Biddeford Clock Tower matters because it’s inextricably linked with New England industrial history,” Merrimen said. “It was the Communication Center for Biddeford for over 140 years. It is synonymous with the economic resurgence and culture of the city. It’s a unique expression of mill clock towers with eight sides and four clock faces.”

She said that the $270,000 campaign will fund $20,000 for site design (lighting, landscaping, pathways), $20,000 for relocation (rigging, staging and final positioning), $125,000 for preservation (roof and structural), $75,000 for clock and dial restoration (clock works, dials, hands and weights), $20,000 for final restoration (windows, clock installation and placards), and $10,000 for exhibit construction.

“The Biddeford Mills Clock Tower is symbolic of the waves of Biddeford mill workers who made our city what it is today,” said Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant. “By restoring it, we pay deep respect to this innovation and the mill workers who made this possible.”

According to Merrimen, a number of project sponsors have already pledged to help including Deering Lumber, Taylor Rental, and Genest.

The Lincoln Mill Clock Tower was built by the Pepperell Manufacturing Company in 1853. Its role was to serve as the center of communications of the Biddeford community.

“Mill workers timed their lives by the strike of the clocks and bell that opened and closed the days for them,” Merrimen said. “Atop a 20-foot mast, the 12-foot weather vane would foretell changes in the weather by showing wind direction. It was the sound that reverberated in the 70 boarding houses and 11 mill buildings that lined the Saco River.”

The clock tower was built in the 1853 for another mill in Biddeford, but was moved to the Lincoln Mill around 1890. It had been removed from its perch on top of the Lincoln Mill in 2007 because of safety issues and set on the adjacent ground where it was deteriorating.

On Aug. 28, 2014 the 13-ton E. Howard & Co. clock and tower, was lifted by crane and situated on a low trailer bed and moved to a fenced location in the parking lot of the Pepperell Mill Campus where it has remained ever since.

“We are asking to public to join us in saving this treasure,” Merrimen said “The committee is under the Heart of Biddeford and is committed to restoring and preserving this Biddeford Mills Clock Tower for future generations of Biddeford.”

For more information or to help, visit facebook/Friends-of-theHistoric Biddeford Mill Clock Tower or call 391-3091.

 — Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com