The Journal's Big Clock– March 1955

Seventy years ago this month in March 1955, the Lorain Journal was still moving into its brand new building on Broadway at Elyria Avenue. Part of the preparation was the installation of "the biggest clocks in Lorain," as noted in the photo above which ran in the front page on March 14.

As noted, the clocks measured a full six feet across the face. There were three of them, on each side of the 70 foot steel tower atop the building.

Here's how the architect envisioned it in their rendering, which appeared in the paper on March 23, 1954.

The clock tower quickly became a local landmark and was featured frequently in the paper. Here's a photo that appeared around the time of the end of daylight savings time in September 1957. That's pretty Journal receptionist Mary Jane Pozega checking her watch.

The Journal photographed its own building from the roof of the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority's new high rise plaza – the John F. Kennedy Plaza – at 1700 Broadway. The photo below appeared on Sept. 22, 1965.

The Journal used their clock again for the annual 'turn back the clock' story, which ran on October 29, 1966.

The Journal's staff photographers posed for a photo in front of the clock for an ad that ran on April 17, 1968.

Like all clocks, sometimes they need to be repaired – as mentioned in this item from "The Hot Line" of Jan. 15, 1969.

The clock tower received a new coat of paint in this photo from Oct. 10, 1970.

Time marches on – digitally, these days – and the classic round clocks were eventually replaced. Here's a 2011 view.

And here's how the whole building looked in 2013, when the paper still called it home.

It just didn't seem right when the Morning Journal (as it is known these days) moved out of its longtime home since the 1950s and another company moved in. The city lost a landmark – and part of its soul.