LANDMARKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SITES : Santa Paula Tower Keeps On Ticking

HISTORY: The Santa Paula clock tower was erected in 1905 as an addition to the meeting hall of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 314 after the hall was already under construction.

* LOCATION: The tower stands at 868 E. Main St. in Santa Paula.

* HOURS: Access to the clock tower is by appointment only.

In 1905, the year displayed on the lodge’s gray facade, Billy Stein conceived the idea of adding a clock tower to the meeting hall for his fraternal lodge--the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

It has become Santa Paula’s best-known landmark, and 86 years later, the four-faced clock still tolls the hours with its cast-bronze bell.

Under a silver-painted copper dome, the tower is covered with sheet-metal shingles and dominates the two-story building with its raised parapet, described as Mission Revival style. Above each clock face, the Odd Fellows’ insignia--three links symbolizing friendship, truth and love--is carved in wood.

“Stein told the Odd Fellows, ‘If you put up a tower, I will see that there’s a clock put in there.’ ” said Jim Warner, a lodge member since 1922. “He went around to all the merchants and the farmers in the district. They paid to have the clock put in.”

The weight-driven clock was ordered from the Seth Thomas Clock Co. in Connecticut, where Stein had worked as a young man. After it was installed, Stein maintained the timepiece for over 40 years.

His duties included resetting the four lead weights with a hand winch. The weights totaled a ton and a half, Warner said, with half a ton controlling the clockwork and a full ton resetting the chiming gears.

Warner was among the members who cared for the clock after Stein retired from the job.

“I wound it every Monday morning if I was in town. Otherwise, it would go a couple of extra days” before it ran down, he said.

In 1952, the cable that held the weights was found to be seriously frayed, and lodge members agreed to retrofit the clock to run electrically. Townspeople were asked to contribute to the cost of the conversion, about $800.

When the tower was offered county landmark status in 1984, it was designated the Odd Fellows Town Clock.

Santa Paula residents have always taken a keen interest in the accuracy of their unofficial timepiece, according to Les Maland, vice mayor and former noble grand of the lodge.

He said, “You would be surprised how many times the phone rings when that clock is not on time.”