Published Sunday, February 07, 2010

Courthouse clocks soon will tick again

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

The clocks are going back in at the 1904 Coweta County Courthouse in downtown Newnan, as the renovation work proceeds on the historic structure.

The mechanical parts of the clocks, and the hands, have already been installed, and the glass is being put back in piece by piece. The four clock faces have been filled for months with plywood.

New glass will be installed in the center of each clock face.

Some of the old glass will be retained. Many of the glass pieces were heavily damaged; much of the damage was caused by bullets of various caliber over the years -- in part possibly from people shooting at pigeons.

Plans are to consolidate the original glass into one or two clock faces, and to use all new glass on the remaining ones.

Though the clocks will be functional, nearby Newnan residents and workers won't be hearing the familiar chiming of the hours for a while. The clocks won't start regular operation until the courthouse project is completed.

The $7.5 million renovation project, which includes installation of an elevator as well as working to return the upstairs courtroom as close as possible to its original appearance, is set for completion this summer.

Funding comes from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which was approved by voters in March 2006.