Seth Thomas Clock

A historical symbol in the area, the courthouse clock was built in Tennessee in 1889, and placed in a clock tower atop the Umatilla County Courthouse. Designed to help the citizens of the rapidly emerging Umatilla County to be able to tell time and thus become more civilized, the clock tower was proposed by prominent county physician Dr. Fred W. Vincent. Though given to the City of Pendleton in 1954 for the new courthouse, due to budgeting and time it was put in storage and carefully kept by Roy Thurman of the County Road Department. The Clock Restoration Committee was organized in 1987 with the goal of creating a place for it by the centennial anniversary of its creation.