Seth Thomas Clock at Old City Hall
Installed in 1888, Old City Hall’s tower clock was manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomaston, Connecticut. Original company records specifically identify the clock as being “For City Hall” in Bordentown, New Jersey, and describe a tower clock arranged for four 4-foot-6-inch glass dials with gilt hands.
The factory ledger, dated August 16, 1888, records the clock under the name of Hon. Isaac D. Hall of Bordentown and notes a sale price of $890. The detailed order also lists the clock’s gearing, shafts, pulleys, strike and time cords, weights, hammer, and other components required to operate the clock and its striking mechanism.
More than 135 years later, the original Seth Thomas mechanism remains in the Old City Hall clock tower. Plans are now being explored for its careful rehabilitation, including consultation with professionals experienced in historic tower clocks and horology. The goal is to better understand, preserve, and, where feasible, return this remarkable piece of Bordentown’s history to working order..
Photo by: Orin Beres 4/13/26The Bell Above Bordentown City
Hanging high in the tower is Old City Hall’s 1,883-pound bell, made by the McShane Bell Company of Baltimore and ordered in 1888. For generations, its sound marked the hours and carried out across Bordentown.
Remarkably, the McShane Bell Company still retains its original ledger entries documenting the bell’s order and its shipment by train to Bordentown City. More than a century later, those handwritten records provide a direct link to the day this massive bell began its journey to its new home in the tower of Old City Hall.
The bell and the Seth Thomas clock are part of the same remarkable mechanical story—gears, weights, ropes, pulleys and a striking mechanism working together to turn the passage of time into a sound once familiar throughout the city.
Today, the bell remains in the tower, a powerful reminder of an era when the town clock did more than tell time. It gave the City of Bordentown a voice.
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”– Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Center
Explore the original log entries, including archival photos and details of when Bordentown City’s bell was ordered.
Date ordered: September 24, 1888
Mountings: none
Ordered by: J.D. Gabrel & Co.
Organization/Church: City of Bordentown
City & State: Bordentown, NJ
Price of bell: 20 cents per pound
Price of hardware: 50 cents per pound
Freight: railroad station
Terms: cash
Date shipped: September 24, 1888
Route: P.W. & B. Rrd
Weight of bell: 1,883 lbs.
Weight of hardware: 126 lbs.
Overall weight: 2,019 lbs.
Notes: 60’ ropes & pulleys
Photo: looking down the rope & pulley shaft from the attic