Herschede Hall Clock Company

A Cincinnati watch and clock repairer's business that grew into a tubular-chime hall clock maker whose name became almost synonymous with hall clocks.

From repair shop to hall clock maker

The collector reference ClockGuy.com, which draws on company history, says Frank Herschede was born in Cincinnati on July 30, 1857, apprenticed as a watch and clock repairer in 1873, and opened his own business in 1877. In 1885 the store moved to Arcade and Vine, and he began importing clock movements and having cases built by a nearby cabinet shop, which he bought in 1900.

A historical note from the inventory of the company's records at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library (Mss 989), reproduced on the collector site abbeyclock.com, starts the hall clock story in 1885, when Frank Herschede began selling hall clocks. Both accounts agree that the Herschede Hall Clock Company was incorporated in 1902; ClockGuy.com gives the date as December 29, 1902, and says the firm began making its own chime tubes that year.

By 1943 a Federal Writers' Project guide to Cincinnati, preserved by University of Cincinnati Libraries, could say Herschede's name was almost synonymous with hall clocks. The same guide notes that clock-factory workers carved the interior woodwork of his 1908 home on Reading Road.

Tubular chimes and prize-winning clocks

Herschede clocks collected medals at a string of fairs. The Cincinnati note records a gold medal at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1901, and ClockGuy.com adds medals at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. ClockGuy.com also reports a grand prize at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition but warns that the grand prize plate was later fixed to clocks that were not the award winners, and Master Clock Repair makes the same point about the 1904 award plaque.

The firm began making its own movements around 1910. ClockGuy.com says the first passed final inspection on January 10, 1911, while Master Clock Repair gives 1910. In 1913, ClockGuy.com says, Canterbury chimes joined Whittington and Westminster as a third melody, and the Cincinnati note records a new plant at McMillan Street and Essex Place that year.

The founder's son Walter Herschede had started in the cabinet shop in 1902. After Frank Herschede died in 1922, Walter became president in January 1923. Electric clocks were sold under the Revere Clock Company name from 1926, and smaller grandmother and petite clocks followed in 1927, according to ClockGuy.com.

ClockGuy.com says the firm had about 300 employees in 1929 before the Great Depression cut demand, and that it launched low-cost electric Crown Clocks in 1933. The Cincinnati note says the company began making parking meters in 1936. During World War II clock and parking meter production stopped while the factory made military instruments and optical parts.

See also: the familiar tunes chiming clocks play on the hour on OnlineClock.app.

How to date a Herschede clock

Look for a serial number on the back of the movement, which may need a flashlight and mirror. ClockGuy.com publishes serial ranges by year from 1911 to 1968. It notes that clocks made before 1911 used movements imported or bought from other American makers, and that it has no serial data after 1968.

The same source suggests a second clue for older hall clocks: the lead inside a weight was often wrapped in a Cincinnati or German newspaper whose date can hint at when the clock was built. Only remove a weight once the clock has fully run down, or the cable can cross on the winding arbor.

Movement origin and labels are other hints. From 1952, ClockGuy.com says, Herschede used imported Junghans movements in clocks with bells rather than tubes, and a Revere name points to the electric line sold from 1926. An award plaque inside the case records when the company won a prize, not when your clock was made.

See also: finding someone to service an heirloom hall clock on OnlineClock.app.

Starkville and the end of production

Herschede moved from Cincinnati to Starkville, Mississippi, where ClockGuy.com says a new factory opened in May 1960. The Cincinnati note says Robert Herschede became the last family member to serve as president in 1966, that local Starkville businessmen bought the company in 1967, and that it merged into Arnold Industries in 1972. ClockGuy.com dates the Arnold Industries merger, with Howard Furniture and Briarwood Lamps, to 1973, and Master Clock Repair names the 1967 buyer as furniture maker John R. Arnold.

Accounts of the final years differ. ClockGuy.com says the company shifted from finished clocks to supplying tubular bell movements on September 23, 1983, and that about 20 clocks were made between 1989 and 1992 under Howard W. Klein and Robert Eggering of St. Louis before the business was sold to R&M Imports of Waynesville, Ohio, a replacement parts supplier. Master Clock Repair says the Herschede Hall Clock Company folded completely in 1984 and that a later firm holding leftover parts and tooling closed around 2019.

Keep exploring

Sources

1. Herschede Hall Clock Company History (ClockGuy.com)
2. Herschede Clock Company History, with the Cincinnati Historical Society Library historical note for Mss 989 (abbeyclock.com)
3. The History of the Herschede Hall Clock Company (Master Clock Repair)
4. Frank Herschede Home (University of Cincinnati Libraries Digital Collections)