Iconic Sherman Clock returns to the Bayfront
You can't turn back the clock, but you can upgrade it.
That's the story at the northeast corner of Burlington Street and Sherman Avenue with an iconic piece of Hamilton industrial history returning this summer after years of neglect and a major retrofit.
The Sherman Clock" sign has taken different forms over the years, tracing back to the early 1960s when the property was used by International Harvester. Version 1.0 was a Home of International Harvester of Canada" landmark that featured an eye-catching rotating cube, with a clock, and was a major part of the company's branding.
When J.I. Case took over IH's Hamilton plant in the mid-1980s, the cube was dumped in favour of a Case sign that sat on a pole-like structure with wings" that displayed two clock faces and renderings of the company's logo.
That version 2.0 sign hung on until the late 1990s when Case ceased operations. Over the last two decades the sign - without the Case name on it - fell out of use and rusted in the harbour breeze.
In the aftermath of Case, the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority acquired 115 hectares of the Pier 10-15 property it calls Westport" that includes the former International Harvester/Case site. More recently, the port authority decided it was time to fix up the old entrance way sign and make it consistent with the current ownership. The sign now says, Welcome to the Port of Hamilton." There is a new clock. Although, when I drove by it last Thursday (AUG. 18), it wasn't working yet.
The folks at the port authority stopped short of a version 3.0. They decided to work with the Case modernist esthetic" design.
The clock obviously needed some TLC. It had not been updated since the early 2000s, as far as I can tell," says port authority spokesperson Larissa Fenn. One update that did take place at some point was ship wheel symbols placed at the noon, 3, 6 and 9 positions on the clock. But some people thought they were snowflakes," says Fenn.
We kicked around some ideas about taking the sign out altogether and replacing it with landscaping but in the end decided on restoration."
It was more work than we expected," she says. We thought we were just going to paint it and put new letters on it. But the wings were badly corroded and had to be replaced."
In the end, the costs ballooned to $60,000 with only the centre support being salvageable.
But Fenn says there are no regrets. The sign transformation and refurbishment echoes what is going on with the larger property. The land is being redeveloped, and will eventually connect to newly expanded shoreline created through the ongoing Randle Reef contaminated sediment encapsulation project.
The sign is an effort to embrace the past and look to the future at the same time, Fenn says.
One person who knows a lot about International Harvester's past is Larry Smith. He used to work in sales at the Hamilton plant and at an IH retailer. He has a Harvester museum in Mount Hope with thousands of IH antiques and memorabilia items. It was featured in a June 2020 Flashbacks column. To arrange a visit to Larry's Smithsonian" email larlinsmith@gmail.com).
Smith says he is pleased the Sherman Clock has been refurbished to remember the industrial heritage of the area. But he is partial to the IH version of it.
The Case one was all right, but I have a lot of feeling for the first one that went up - the Harvester sign," he says.
It was about the biggest one around that I can remember. It was powered, it revolved, and it had the different parts of the company on each side. They had trucks on one, agriculture on one as well as industrial and construction equipment."
He says he's looked hard over the years to try to find the old IH sign, which would be a prized display in his museum. But there has been no sign of it.
I would put money on it that when Case got their sign put up, they simply scrapped the old one," he says.
International Harvester operated from 1903 to 1985 on Hamilton's bayfront, and at its peak employed 3,000 employees. In its early days, the plant was touted as being the largest agricultural implement works in the British Empire." The massive complex came to be known locally as Harvester City" with its own doctor, musical band and fire department.
Speaking of signage near the waterfront, I noticed new street signs being erected around Pier 8 as part of the major development project in the West Harbour that includes condominiums and public space.
One of the signs, at Haida Avenue, was for Catharine Street North. It made me think of how the street is often incorrectly spelled as Catherine, with an e.'
That's what happened with the new sign. A first one went up as Catherine, only to be replaced with the proper spelling some weeks later. No big deal. I'm sure I've made the same mistake.
But it does beg the question: Who was Catharine, for whom the street is named?
And is there any connection to the similarly spelled city of St. Catharines down the road? Did someone named Catharine in Hamilton go onto some kind of sainthood in the Niagara area?
According to a City of St. Catharines website, The origin of the name remains obscure, but is thought to be named after Catharine Askin Robertson Hamilton, wife of the Honourable Robert Hamilton, a prominent businessman."
Robert and Catharine Hamilton of Niagara were parents of George Hamilton (1788-1836) for whom Hamilton is named. George was a merchant, politician and War of 1812 veteran who bought 104 hectares of land in what is now downtown Hamilton in 1815 and laid the groundwork of the town that emerged.
Local historian Bill King believes Catharine is named for George Hamilton's mother. So, perhaps our street Catharine, and St. Catharines, are named for the same person.
But according to the book Hamilton Street Names, edited by Margaret Houghton, Catharine Street was named after a daughter of Nathaniel Hughson (1755-1837). Hughson was an early land developer who owned property to the north of George Hamilton's land. The book says Hughson Street is named for him, James Street is named for his son and Rebecca Street is named for his wife.