A piece of Oneonta history has been brought back to Main Street thanks to an effort by the Oneonta Lions Club.
The mechanism of the clock that was on a tower on the Westcott block is on display in the window on the walkway of the parking garage.
That location is near where the building, which has been turned into the municipal lot near the Department of Motor Vehicles, was demolished in 1968.
The Lions Club will be honored for its effort during a brief ceremony at the Tuesday Common Council meeting that starts at 7:30 p.m., Oneonta Mayor John Nader said.
"It shows an enormous commitment to making Oneonta better," he said.
Nader said a formal dedication ceremony will be scheduled for a later date.
Lions Club member Terry Morley is the chairman of the committee that undertook the project, working with assistant
chairman Jeff Polling and others. The members, including club president Breck Tarbell, put in more than 100 man-hours unpacking the parts from the wooden crates, where they had been stored since the building was demolished.
The project was started last spring, Morley said. After Morley retired from his job as a building contractor, he needed to take action on the project using the clock pieces stored in the firm's steel building. Morley and club President Breck Tarbell, who also helped, talked about the project on Wednesday.
Morley said that the work was done in honor of the late James Catella, a club member who was involved in a lot of different projects with the group. This included working with Morley and others to put a clock and weather vane in the building at 242 Main Street, that has been operational since 1977.
"He would be pleased that we got it together and that it's in a place where all of Oneonta can enjoy it," Morley said about the restoration. It includes the clock's wooden hands but the faces were not salvageable.
"It is a really neat piece of Oneonta history," he said.
The group moved the gears and other material to the Main Street site about a month ago and the city installed lighting and signage last Thursday.
"This is a good community project and a good use of the space," Tarbell said.
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