ASHLAND — Downtown Ashland and its pedestrians will soon have another way to tell time.
The Rotary Club of Ashland recently raised the funds to install an approximately $50,000 mechanical clock near Foundation Plaza along Main Street, which will not only tell time — but remind us where time has taken the 100-year-old organization.
Ted Daniels, the club’s immediate past president, said the clock is a gift to the city and meant to symbolize the past, present and future of the club.
“So we’ve been looking at our past, celebrating in the present and looking to the future. The clock was a natural symbol of that,” Daniels said, noting Ashland’s club was born out of the Mansfield rotary club’s sponsorship a century ago.
Work has begun on the installation, which the organization had hoped would have been wrapped up by September.
Rotary secretary Tom Roepke said the club was fortunate to have Simonson Construction commit to pouring concrete for the clock, but finding the time to do it efficiently proved to be the cause for delay, since the company tried to line up the job with other concrete jobs.
“They’re donating the labor,” Roepke said of Simonson.
The clock is in the club’s possession, so its installation will happen soon. It will look similar to the clock in Mansfield, also a rotary-supported project.
Daniels said the club hopes to host a dedication for the clock in early November.
The Rotary Club of Ashland has become known in the community for being the provider of its Fourth of July fireworks. In fact, the club established an endowment fund to ensure the pyrotechnics keep lighting up the Ashland sky.
It also serves as a sponsor for the annual Make Ashland Sparkle cleanup event.
Other funds have been established, including monies earmarked for work at the Ashland County Job and Family Services building and Delroy Park. Roepke said the organization partnered with Leadership Ashland this year to serve as its fiscal agent in a faith-based ministry aimed at working with kids in probation.
“Time is always passing, and so (putting a clock downtown) is a great way to mark it,” Roepke said. ‘It reminds us to be present, but to also think about the future.”
