Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer
One of the very first manufacturing enterprises in Trumbull County was the manufacture of tall clocks. At one time or another there were about 13 manufacturers of these clocks in Trumbull County.
Most of this manufacturing took place in Vienna, Oh. with others in Brookfield, Hartford, Howland, and Warren.
These clocks had wooden works and were manufactured, starting after the War of 1812, in the teens. It took months to make one clock, but that changed about 1825.
About this time mass production methods were employed to make clocks. Different sub contractors were employed to manufacture different parts of these clocks. Someone would make the cabinet, another painted the faces, another may have made the hands, someone else made the works. Faces were painted on the second floor of the Western Reserve bank on the corner of E. Market St. and Main Ave. in Warren. (now the location of the Mahoning Building). Other parts were made further south on Main Ave. above a drug store? All of this came together in a final assembly operation, then sold. The manufacturer’s name was usually painted on the face of the clock. The works of these clocks were made of wood, and were in production for 10 years, or so.
They were sold all over the eastern United States. Some as far away as New Orleans. Some leftover clocks were loaded on a canal boat at Warren and shipped to Tennessee. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 clocks were manufactured in Trumbull County.
Sometime after 1835 the manufacture of clocks in Trumbull County quickly declined due to a technological change – clock makers in Connecticut began to make clocks with brass works instead of wood and put the Local clock makers out of business.
Trumbull County Wooden Works Tall Clock Manufacturers 1812 – 1835
Tall clocks were made in Trumbull County from 1812 to about 1835. They were not all in production at the same time. Some actually produced parts for themselves and their local competitors. Some factories made the gears, others made entire works, some faces, some dials, others cabinetry, and yet others, final assembly.
Clocks made in Trumbull County and shipped throughout the eastern United States. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 clocks were made here.
The L. W. Lewis factory in Vienna was the largest and longest lasting clock works, and was in business about 20 years.
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Clock factories with wheel cutting machines (gear cutters)
Lambert W. Lewis – Vienna
Ansel Merrell – Vienna
Hart & Truesdale – Hartford
Wheeler Lewis
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List of Trumbull County Clock Making Factories and Locations
Hart & Truesdale 1827 – 1833 – Hartford
Hartson Brothers
Ansel Merrell – Vienna
Garry Lewis – Vienna & Warren
Lambert W. Lewis – Vienna
Phineas Deming – Vienna
Tyler & Hummason – Vienna
Asahel Scoville – Vienna
W. W. Ling
Ambrose Hart – Brookfield
Hart & Way – Brookfield
Charles Lewis
Wheeler Lewis
There was also a storage facility (warehouse) for the clocks in Warren
