The Cincinnati Union Terminal

• The Union Terminal

• The Union Terminal Clock

• The Concourse & Concourse Clock

• Winold Reiss Tile Mosaics

• Union Terminal High Steel

• Every Cincinnatian Has A Union Terminal Story

Many great historians and private citizens have done a terrific job gathering resources, facts, and images of the Union Terminal over the decades. We don't intend to recreate the story of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, but to acknowledge and share these resources by linking to them and crediting their creators, while discussing what we, in particular, find tremendously important at the Union Terminal: the clocks!

The links will open in a new tab, and we encourage you to visit these great resources that Cincinnatians and others have created about our Union Terminal. 

Some information and many pictures displayed here come directly from us; we all have connections to Union Terminal in Cincinnati. Everyone has a Union Terminal story. The Union Terminal is in our blood and in the tens of thousands of humans who make it up and made the Union Terminal happen, We salute you.

Union Terminal Cincinnati Art Deco Train Station

The "Temple To Transportation" was coined by the local & National press in 1933 when the Union Terminal, a train station designed to replace 5 separate stations across Cincinnati, opened. Union Terminal is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture and interior design in the World.

- Flyover video Union Terminal by Brendan Keefe

Union Terminal by the Numbers

Opened: 1933

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Designed by: Fellheimer & Wagner. Alfred Fellheimer and Steward Wagner hired Paul Phillipe Cret, who provided the Art Deco design

The original design was Roman Gothic, a popular architectural design for train stations in the United States at the time; train stations were treated like Cathedrals in the USA. 

Art Deco came on the scene for Fellheimer & Wagner after their first Roman Gothic designs for Union Terminal (I would love to find those original drawings). They brought in Paul Phillip Cret to redesign the station in this fascinating Art Deco style.  

When We Say Art Deco Masterpiece: We mean..

Original Use: A train station that included a restaurant, snack area, ice cream stand, movie theater, offices for several railroad companies, executive offices and boardrooms, Tower A - the control tower that overlooked the train yard, Concourse waiting rooms, and more.

Union Terminal consolidated 5 separate train stations in Cincinnati. It was chaos for people coming in and out of Cincinnati, as they had to taxi, walk, or otherwise cross town to reach an essential train transfer. So there were many companies working inside of Union Terminal. 

Drive into and out of the Union Terminal

The most fascinating feature was three tunnels on either side, allowing cars, buses, and taxis to enter the building on one side and exit on the other. 

Current Use:

The current use of the Union Terminal is a Children's Museum, Museum Center, Railroad Club Meeting Room, Tower A, Omnimax theater, Transportation Museum, Museum of Natural History, and event center.  It is the place to be for kids in the Winter; going there connects you to your local heritage. 

The Cincinnati Union Terminal is stunning now and was incredibly stunning in its day, a technological look into the future.

• One of the largest half-domes in the World. 
  
• Giant Art Deco clock designed into the architectural exterior.
• One of the first digital clocks by IBM
• Master Time Clocks
• Time synced on all clocks throughout the 33-acre grounds
  
• The Concourse and Concourse Clock
• Historic 2018 Restoration

Union Terminal Technological Wonder for it's Time

• The technology in 1933 Union Terminal was far advanced for its time.
  • First public digital clock!  
  • IBM synced all clocks throughout the entire station & campus including offices and engine roundhouse.
  • Electronic & pneumatic centrally controlled rail yard from Tower A
  • (The Original Airport)
• An Art Deco Masterpiece, The Rotunda & Tile Masterpiece 
• The Inspiration for DC Comic's "Super Friends" Hall Of Justice.
• Cars, Taxis, Busses, and Streetcar could enter & exit in & under the half dome.

First Public Digital Clock West of The Allegheny

In 1933, would someone looking at digitally displayed time know what they were looking at? Time was never displayed like that before the digital clock. The numbers would have looked like a train number, or a train delay notice, a number of things. This is how groundbreaking a digital clock was at the time, 

New Time Display Had To Be Labeled TIME

The word "TIME" is emboldened in large letters next to the first digital clock display seen here in 1933 at the opening of the Cincinnati Union Terminal (CUT). If you look at images of the digital clocks at the (CUT) you will notice that the word "Time" sits next to every one.

How Did IBM Create Digital Time at Union Terminal in 1933?

We take digital clocks for granted today, but in 1933 a Digital Clock display was an incredible breakthrough.

When the Union Terminal clock was first built the time was actually projected onto a panel displaying the appropriate time, like a movie displaying the correct time. (Citation)

Several years after the terminal was built, the digital clocks were upgraded by IBM using on and off dots, circles on a board that can either be black or white. Like scoreboards, the correct dots were illuminated to display the time. But how did the board know what time to display?

IBM Invented Digital Time Display

The central timekeeping device that kept all the clocks at Union Terminal accurate and in sync, like all the clocks of that day, used mechanical movements to keep time. Three clocks resembling grandfather clocks stood next to each other; this was the main, accurate clock. First, three timekeeping devices kept time, so accuracy could be maintained between them. The clocks were also radio-synced every 12 hours.

How do you make mechanical clocks digital?

Fascinatingly, where there are normally hands on a clock, IBM attached round drums where the hands would normally connect to the movement. The movement would turn the drum just as it turns the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand. But instead of hands, the drums turned, drums that had metal contacts protruding from the drum's surface, like a music box's music maker. The metal protrusions would make contact with contacts built around the turning drum, allowing an electric current to pass, turning one circle on the board dark or lit up. Since the drum turns at a steady pace, the pattern on the outside of the drum that connects the contacts to each corresponding circle on the board could be designed to display the correct time as the wheels turn. Imagine, the drum, at every mm of turn would represent a given length of time. The pattern of protruding metal contacts along a row would inform the patter on the board for that moment in time. 

A music box has a drum with metal contacts; as the drum spins, the contacts hit a musical harp device, or a bell, to pluck a specific pitch or sound. On the first digital clock, IBM replaced the hands on mechanical movements with a drum with raised contacts, like a music box, that would make contact with wire contacts connected to every circle on the digital clock. The digital clock itself was a rectangular board, a grid of binary lights filled the vertical and horizontal rectangle. Each light connected to a contact next to the rotating drum. As the drum turned, contacts were made between the raised metal on the turing drum and the contact wire with individual lights on the board, allowing electricity to pass through or stop, turning a circle on the digital clock from black to white. The design of the contacts on the drum told the time. 

That is how IBM turned mechanical moments into digital clocks.

Synced Time Throughout the Train Station

What is Time if the clocks in a train station differ by minutes or seconds? The answer is A MESS of frustration, missed trains, even disaster!

IBM Digital Clock and Clock Syncing at Union Terminal 

IBM put everyone at the CUT on the same time, teh passengers, crew, executives, even the round had synced time, everyone wwas on the exact same time because IBM synced all of the clocks in the Union Terminal. From the Art Deco masterpiece adorning the front face of the building, to the office clocks of the admin staff and in Control Tower "A", everyone was on the exact same time.

Incredible for 1933, incredible for 2003! Synced time throughout the entire campus of Union Terminal. 

How did IBM do it? 

We were fortunate to meet with >>>>> who explained and showed us how the clocks at Union Terminal were synced. A wire ran to every clock in the 33 acre campus where an electric charge flowed at precisely 5 minutes to the hour. The real time coming from the Master Clock in the basement; essentially, 3 grandfather clocks synced along with a 12-hour radio signal check in. 

This clock sent an electric charge to all the Union Terminal clocks at 5 minutes to every hour. This started a mechanical process that turned a specific-shaped gear in the back of every clock. As the main clocks struck the hour they sent another signal and if the clock was not at the hour the minute hand would jump to the hour so at every hour, the clocks are synced. 

)))((((

The precision necessary to sync all of the clocks and mechanical ingenuity to perform at scale IBM set Time for all Cincinnatians from the Union Terminal. 

Union Terminal Rotunda

When we discover the Cincinnati Union Terminal its momentous history fills us with awe and wonder. Walking in the vast sky and color of the rotunda we're Wowed while giant tile mosaics that pull us into the train station turned Museum Center.

Hey Cincinnati, when you walk into the rotunda do you point to the mosaic and say to your kids "Look, there's Grandpa"? I do, and I've heard that many Cincinnatians do this on entering the terminal.

The Rotunda is LARGE!

It is hard to paint the picture of the immense feeling of awe one gets walking into and under the Terminal's rotunda. The size of the Rotunda is set off with vibrant colors where each layer is like another layer of the stratosphere.

The rotunda is the second largest half dome in the Northern Hemisphere, second only to Sydney's Opera House.

The below excellent drone footage helps demonstrate the size of the rotunda. Thanks Brendan Keef.

The Secret Whispering Drinking Fountains

Because of the unique half dome shape of the CUT there are two spots on opposite sides of the Terminal that if you whisper, the person standing on the opposite side of the Terminal can hear you clearly and distinctly.

The location of these two spaces are in the interior of the main rotunda on the front of the building. There are public drinking fountains on the North and South sides of the front East facing wall.

Have one person stand at one fountain, and another at the other, and it's like having a walkie talkie to communicate secretly. This feature did not get interrupted in the 2018 restoration still works today.

Departure and Arrival Pick Up and Drop Off Tunnels.

The Union Terminal had side entrance ramps that brought people, taxis, cars, and busses into & under the heart of the building in seamless integration with the City of Cincinnati. This feature transforms the building from static to an integral part of the city's transportation system; cooler than any matchbox set, this building built to allow a streetcar to come into, under, and out of in a seemless flow. It's very cool.

You see the Tunnels on the right and left of the Terminal where cars, busses, and streetcar could enter on one side, pick up and drop off, then exit out the other side. Genius.

Sadly, and in typical Cincinnati fashion, the Cincinnati Streetcar Company did not send a streetcar into the Union Terminal even though the building was designed for this. The third tunnel went mostly unused.

From above you can see The Concourse stretch out over the tracks. In the front of the concourse is Tower "A", the look-out control room were all the pneumatic switches in the yard were manually operated.

From Rotunda to The Concourse

"To Trains"

The Grand Hall extended over the railroad tracks; the trains came into tunnels under the Concourse, dropping people off and picking up passengers on the platforms below.

David Lombardi: Virtual Preservation of The Union Terminal Concourse

Below is a digitally enhanced image with color of The CUT Concourse by Cincinnati artist David Lombardi. To see the Concourse is color is amazing since color photography was in its infancy when the CUT Concourse was demolished. In fact, the one picture we know of of the Union Terminal in Color

Notice the giant Ronald Weiss tile mosaic murals. For size comparison, be sure to see how small the double doors are where people go through to access ramps to the train platform. Use the link below to view David Lombardi's 365 virtual renderings of the CUT Concourse and see every detail up close, every texture, every light, and especially, more clocks!

David Lombardi's virtual renderings of the Union Terminal Concourse are a MUST SEE. They preserve our Cincinnati History in a way that no single image, or even video reel (which there are very few of and their quality is not good) can reproduce.

MUST SEE! David Lombardi's Virtual Renderings in color of the Union Terminal Concourse HERE.

Kinetic Vision created a virtual reality of the Concourse complete with headset experience; you can walk around the Concourse and admire every detail. Short of smelling the tobacco smoke, their digital reproduction is an amazing recreation experience of being in the Concourse waiting for the train.

https://kinetic-vision.com/vr-...

The Original Airport Design

The Concourse predated and is the model of all modern airport designs which have concourses of long hallways with gates for arriving and departing airplanes. Magazine & cigarette stands, restaurants, ice cream parlor, barbershops, shoe shines, telephone booths; tile mosaics with windows reaching to the sky extended the length of The Concourse. 

Ronald Weiss Murals, including "The Globe"

The rotunda as well as the Concourse were covered in giant Ronald Weiss murals including "The Globe". The Globe took up the length of the back wall of The Concourse and was 3 times the size of the other giant murals. The tile mosaic Globe extended left to right and featured the United States with two giant Globes on East & West featuring 5 tile clocks across the top marking the American time zones. Each State outlined, where are you going to go?

Above The Globe Mosaic was The Concourse Clock

Above The Globe mosaic was The Concourse Clock, a clock often left out of images of the tile mosaic Globe masterpiece. The Concourse Clock featured a multi layered dial, art deco hands and numerals, an inner ring marking minutes; a beautiful art deco clock in the theme of The Union Terminal. This clock was synced with all of the clocks in the Union Terminal to show the same clock time to everyone on the premises of the Union Terminal.

We'd  like to point out the quality of leather seating provided for people waiting on a train. The CUT was first class, instead of using wooden benches the CUT had tailored leather chairs at every gate. One of our Great Grandfathers, "Timer", was the Master Upholsterer who maintained the quality seating throughout the Terminal. Our Grandfather Joe worked there for many years from the tracks to maintenance. 

A Conversation with Our Children

Torn Down? They ask.

Yes. Demolished to rubbish.

What? They gasp.

The entire Concourse, of marble and stone Art Deco brilliance. Lit with lamps embedded in & into fixtures, terrazzo floors, and red marble walls and chairs of masterful leather comfort, torn down. Demolished because trains could not fit under the tunnels any longer. 

In 1972 the Cincinnati Union Terminal Concourse was demolished.

We are at a Significant Moment In Time.

In 1972, when there was a mad dash to save the tile mosaics, to get them somewhere safe and on display, to save The Concourse from being crushed to rubbish, we failed. The Concourse was torn down, and so with it, the Globe mosaic. 

The Clock and Tile Mosaic Clocks, Saved!

Sane heads saved what they could and the Concourse Clock, as well as the tile mosaics clocks were saved! 

In the video below, hear how the Tile Mosaic Clocks Were Lost & Found, & Put Back Lost Again.

What happened to the Concourse Clock?

The Concourse clock was saved, brought to city government at the Public Radio station parking lot the clock was stored until it was  Below is a video of Cincinnati city workers lifting the clock from its upward facing bubble enclosure. Kudos for WCPO Channel 9 for capturing this action on video.

Here WCPO again is on the scene in Cincinnati! Here, capturing the moving of the Concourse clock out of the ground to once again get returned to Union Terminal. https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2018-05-17/its-time-for-this-clock-to-return-home-to-union-terminal

However Today, The people of Cincinnati have stepped up to save the Cincinnati Union Terminal from collapsing to the weight of time.

WCPO Channel 9 was dialed in at the time to have their team on site for what appears to be one of the last trains into Union Terminal Concourse platform before the beginning of the demolition. This interview with a construction worker and scenes are epic. The train is a Norfolk Southern with a train car 1612 (A year later that car will be painted purple and be in Miami, Florida; Wild World. Wild World.)

The Cincinnati Union Terminal has transformed under a restoration that saved it from falling down, becoming fatally compromised. Many people worked very hard and we are grateful; they have saved The Union Terminal from sharing the fate of The Concourse and preserved the "Art Deco Temple To Transportation" for generations to come. (When it becomes a mag-lev station again we will build a new Concourse!)

In true Cincinnati fashion, the streetcar never made it work. I guess moving into and out of the Union Terminal from the light rail electric tracks above was too much for the private company created to make this work.

Certainly, in hindsight, we can see that to make the building run in parallel with the City's light rail, continual upgrades and maintenance would be necessary as both systems are updated. 

Resources: https://www.cincymuseum.org/art-of-union-terminal/

The Union Terminal Clock

Who Designed the Union Terminal Clock?

The clock was built by the Seth Thomas Company.

But who designed the clock?

The first question I and others had about the Union Terminal clock is "Who Designed It"? We know the clock was part of the design of the building, and that Paul Philippe Cret was hired by the New York architectural firm to add a new emerging design concept, Art Deco, to the design of the train station. But did Paul Philippe Cret design the clock? Was it a team inside the architectural firm? Or even one of the other renowned architects? No one seems to say exactly who designed the Union Terminal Clock. I think it's safe to say Paul Philippe Cret designed the Union Terminal Clock in the aesthetic of his Art Deco building design. The curves of the flowering dial are so similar to the buildings curved, half-dome design. Also, the clock's dimensions are precisely laid out in the clock's blueprints.

Resource: Union Terminal Co. hired French-born Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret to advise on aesthetics. A leading architect of the time, he’s believed to have influenced the move away from neoclassical to Art Deco. - https://www.ohiohistory.org/cincinnati-union-terminal 

Working with Roland Wank of the New York firm of Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, Philadelphia-based architect Paul Philippe Cret conceived the modern design of the terminal building. 
- https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-061-0073

Art Deco Clock Part of Original Blueprints

Blueprints Tell The Tale

The Art Deco clock on the exterior front face of the Cincinnati Union Terminal was part of the original Art Deco design by Paul Phillipe Cret and the New York architecture firm Fellheimer and Wagner, who specialized in train stations.

Fellheimer and Wagner had a team of architects on the design and brought on Paul Philippe Cret specifically to add the Art Deco exterior design to a previously established traditional Gothic design.

Final Opinion:

It is believed that Paul Phillipe Cret is responsible for the exterior Art Deco design, and he, in our opinion, is the most likely person to be responsible for the design of the Union Terminal Clock.

Clock Manufacturer: Seth Thomas Clock Company

Union Terminal Architect: Alfred T. Fellheimer & Steward Wagner of Fellheimer and Wagner.

Architectural Project Manager: Roland Anthony Wank of Fellheimer and Wagner.

Architectural Adviser on the exterior appearance of the building: Paul Philippe Cret.

Mural Designers: Winold Reiss and Pierre Bourdelle;

Exterior pilaster relief designs: Maxfield Keck

Designer of the Rookwood Tea Room: William Hentschel

(Credit)

The Union Terminal Clock Specifications

• 1933
• Clock face measures 18 feet across
• Minute hand – 7 feet, 4 inches
• Hour hand – 6 feet, 4 inches
• The clock face is composed of 28 amber glass panels of various sizes and 24 red glass panels to demarcate the twelve-hour positions (Indices)
• The clock face is backlit; the red index glass is backlit by a backward-facing light that faced a refraction pane of reflective metal.
• The hands are lit by neon tubes outlining their shape.
• The hands are made out of Aluminum
  

The Clock weighs roughly 5 Tons or 10,000 Pounds! 

The Clocks at Union Terminal Were All On Time

The Clock was connected to IBM's brilliant time-synchronizing mechanism first revealed at the opening of the Union Terminal. That is, no matter who you are or where you were in the Union Terminal, you knew exactly what the station time was for everyone on every clock.

Imagine the chaos otherwise, the office clocks minutes behind the trainman's clock? All of the clocks in the Union Terminal were synced in a brilliant machine looked at in more detail here.

In 1933, The Clock Hands Are "Skeletonized"

Below is an image from 1933 of the Union Terminal Clock showing that the hands are see-through, aka "skeletonized". Only the frame of the hands comprises the hands. We have been told in unconfirmed reports that the clock, after the restoration, will again have Skeletonized hands in 2018. We shall see! (UPDATE! Yes, the Union Terminal clock now has skeletonized hands, a return to their original form. Prior to 2018 (CONFIRM DATE), they had a white background between the steel that helped project the light from the neon tubes on the minute and hour hands. 

Along the way they were filled in with white

Growing up in Cincinnati in the 80's and 90's we knew the CUT Clock to have whie hands with neon tube borders and Ruby red indices. When did the hands have white added to fill in the hands?

The 2018 Restoration of the Clock.

The Verdin Clock Co was trusted with restoring the Union Terminal Clock. Verdin has been operating out of Cincinnati since 1842. The 52 glass panels and the large iconic aluminum hands were taken down and replaced with white material to support the metal frame of the clock dial, while the glass and metal dial framework are being cleaned.

"Why is the Union Terminal Clock Missing?" Article on WVXU.

Below is a picture of the Union Terminal Clock Hands at Verdin in Cincinnati being cleaned during the 2018 restoration.

The 2018 Restoration of the Union Terminal Clock. 

In the May 2018 update of the Union Terminal restoration, the video shares a brief close-up of the clock with the clock face removed, a worker for scale, and the internal gear mechanism being reinstalled. 

The Union Terminal clock was restored by the Verdin Bells & Clocks Company at their new factory on Eastern Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The next time you're passing by look through the windows, you'll never know what you may see standing up in there! 

Below, you see the Cincinnati Union Terminal's clock hands after NeonWorks Of Cincinnati installed the signature neon outline on the hour and minute hands during the July 2018 clock restoration.

The hands will now go back to Cincinnati's Verdin Company where they will be balanced and finished. Neonworks of Cincinnati used The American Sign Museum's workshop for the repair of the hands.

A Change To The Look of The Clock is Coming.

We have been told by Neonworks Of Cincinnati that the hands are to be returned to their original "skeletonized" version, or see through.

If this is correct then the hands will not have white in the middle of the hands but instead will be see-through, only the aluminum frame of the hands outlined in neon light will be part of the hands.

(Update. Indeed the clock was released with the skeletonized hands. Will they one day be updated?)

At some point in the history of the clock white, (possibly aluminum, what was the white material made of?) plates were added filling in the center sections of the hands making them more visible. Neon tubes were added to the perimeter of the hands; together, they gave the impression from afar that the clock hands were red-orange.

Neonworks of Cincinnati is working on replacing the neon tubes on the clock's hands. The picture was taken at the American Sign Museum's workshop.

https://www.cincymuseum.org/un...

The Union Terminal Clock Watch

When Cincinnatian Rick Bell designed The Union Terminal Watch, he made great efforts to ensure the hands were the correct color, look, and shape of the hands of the Union Terminal clock.  He made a great effort to ensure the white circle second-hand cap was included. But what makes the clock, and what Rick made sure he pronounced, are the curved petals around the radius of the dial. It is literally a two-layer sandwich dial. Those delicate flower petals and how they contrast subtly with their background is a feature we were sure to evolve, add it's impetus in making this clock one of the most beautiful clocks to look at. 

Two variations of the Cincinnati Watch dial were presented to the Union Terminal President, Elizabeth Pierce, and the watch you see is the version selected. (There is only one of the version not chosen: Rick has it :)

The Union Terminal holds special meaning to all Cincinnatians, especially with Mark Stegman, one of the co-owners of Cincinnati Watch Co. His Grandfather, Joe Haworth, and his great-grandfather, "Timer", worked at the Union Terminal.

Joe Haworth said that the best seat in the house for Cincinnati Reds Opening Day at Crosley Field was from "Sitting on top of the Union Terminal clock".

Cincinnati Watch Company is honored to give to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal with every purchase of a Union Terminal Watch. 

How the Union Terminal clock works:

The clock uses weights, gears, and a regulator to create a power device called a movement to power the clock and regulate the release of the energy in time.

Initially, tower clocks would use hand-wound power to wind and lift a weight into the air. The constant pull of gravity on the weight powered the clock. Someone would have to wind the clocks regularly.  Mechanical energy at its best.

Today, electricity is used to engage a motor every thirty (30) minutes that pulls the heavyweight up. The weight is pulled down by the force of gravity, which is the force turning the gears.

The Union Terminal clock's minute hand ticks a half-minute once every 30 seconds—two "clicks" a minute. Seeing the Union Terminal clock's movement kick on is amazing. Here's the video of the Union Terminal clock's movement kicking on and making one half a minute tick of the hands.

https://youtu.be/vGeWs5BFAek 

A video of the clock by the CMC

Cincinnati Union Terminal Clock Resources

Historical photos of the Union Terminal exterior

Below are links to a two-part blog post detailing a tour of above the rotunda, the Clock and going behind the scenes at CUT.

2013 Blog Focused on Art Deco design of the CUT.

Many great people and historians have done a terrific job gathering resources, facts, and images of the Union Terminal over the decades. We don't intend to recreate the story of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, but to acknowledge and share these resources by linking to them and crediting their creators, while discussing what we, in particular, find tremendously important at the Union Terminal: the clocks! The links will open in a new tab, and we encourage you to visit these great resources that Cincinnatians and others have created about our Union Terminal.  Some information comes directly from us as we all have connections to Union Terminal in Cincinnati. Everyone has a Union Terminal story.  Who Designed the Union Terminal Clock? The clock was built by the Seth Thomas Company. But who designed the clock? The first question I and others had about the Union Terminal clock is "Who Designed It"? We know the clock was part of the design of the building, and that Paul Philippe Cret was hired by the New York architectural firm to add a new emerging design concept, Art Deco, to the design of the train station. But did Paul Philippe Cret design the clock? Was it a team inside the architectural firm? Or even one of the other renowned architects? No one seems to say exactly who designed the Union Terminal Clock. I think it's safe to say Paul Philippe Cret designed the Union Terminal Clock in the aesthetic of his Art Deco building design. The curves of the flowering dial are so similar to the buildings curved, half-dome design. Also, the clock's dimensions are precisely laid out in the clock's blueprints. Resource: Union Terminal Co. hired French-born Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret to advise on aesthetics. A leading architect of the time, he’s believed to have influenced the move away from neoclassical to Art Deco. - https://www.ohiohistory.org/cincinnati-union-terminal  Working with Roland Wank of the New York firm of Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, Philadelphia-based architect Paul Philippe Cret conceived the modern design of the terminal building.  - https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-061-0073 Art Deco Clock Part of Original Blueprints Blueprints Tell The Tale The Art Deco clock on the exterior front face of the Cincinnati Union Terminal was part of the original Art Deco design by Paul Phillipe Cret and the New York architecture firm Fellheimer and Wagner, who specialized in train stations. Fellheimer and Wagner had a team of architects on the design and brought on Paul Philippe Cret specifically to add the Art Deco exterior design to a previously established traditional Gothic design. Final Opinion: It is believed that Paul Phillipe Cret is responsible for the exterior Art Deco design, and he, in our opinion, is the most likely person to be responsible for the design of the Union Terminal Clock. Clock Manufacturer: Seth Thomas Clock Company Union Terminal Architect: Alfred T. Fellheimer & Steward Wagner of Fellheimer and Wagner. Architectural Project Manager: Roland Anthony Wank of Fellheimer and Wagner. Architectural Adviser on the exterior appearance of the building: Paul Philippe Cret. Mural Designers: Winold Reiss and Pierre Bourdelle;   Exterior pilaster relief designs: Maxfield Keck Designer of the Rookwood Tea Room: William Hentschel (Credit) The Union Terminal Clock Specifications 1933 Clock face measures 18 feet across Minute hand – 7 feet, 4 inches Hour hand – 6 feet, 4 inches The clock face is composed of 28 amber glass panels of various sizes and 24 red glass panels to demarcate the twelve-hour positions (Indices) The clock face is backlit; the red index glass is backlit by a backward-facing light that faced a refraction pane of reflective metal. The hands are lit by neon tubes outlining their shape. The hands are made out of Aluminum The Clock weighs roughly 5 Tons or 10,000 Pounds!  The Clocks at Union Terminal Were All On Time The Clock was connected to IBM's brilliant time-synchronizing mechanism first revealed at the opening of the Union Terminal. That is, no matter who you are or where you were in the Union Terminal, you knew exactly what the station time was for everyone on every clock. Imagine the chaos otherwise, the office clocks minutes behind the trainman's clock? All of the clocks in the Union Terminal were synced in a brilliant machine looked at in more detail here. In 1933, The Clock Hands Are "Skeletonized" Below is an image from 1933 of the Union Terminal Clock showing that the hands are see-through, aka "skeletonized". Only the frame of the hands comprises the hands. We have been told in unconfirmed reports that the clock, after the restoration, will again have Skeletonized hands in 2018. We shall see! (UPDATE! Yes, the Union Terminal clock now has skeletonized hands, a return to their original form. Prior to 2018 (CONFIRM DATE), they had a white background between the steel that helped project the light from the neon tubes on the minute and hour hands.  Along the way they were filled in with white Growing up in Cincinnati in the 80's and 90's we knew the CUT Clock to have whie hands with neon tube borders and Ruby red indices. When did the hands have white added to fill in the hands? The 2018 Restoration of the Clock. The Verdin Clock Co was trusted with restoring the Union Terminal Clock. Verdin has been operating out of Cincinnati since 1842. The 52 glass panels and the large iconic aluminum hands were taken down and replaced with white material to support the metal frame of the clock dial, while the glass and metal dial framework are being cleaned. "Why is the Union Terminal Clock Missing?" Article on WVXU. Below is a picture of the Union Terminal Clock Hands at Verdin in Cincinnati being cleaned during the 2018 restoration. The 2018 Restoration of the Union Terminal Clock.  In the May 2018 update of the Union Terminal restoration, the video shares a brief close-up of the clock with the clock face removed, a worker for scale, and the internal gear mechanism being reinstalled.  The Union Terminal clock was restored by the Verdin Bells & Clocks Company at their new factory on Eastern Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The next time you're passing by look through the windows, you'll never know what you may see standing up in there!  Below, you see the Cincinnati Union Terminal's clock hands after NeonWorks Of Cincinnati installed the signature neon outline on the hour and minute hands during the July 2018 clock restoration. The hands will now go back to Cincinnati's Verdin Company where they will be balanced and finished. Neonworks of Cincinnati used The American Sign Museum's workshop for the repair of the hands. A Change To The Look of The Clock is Coming. We have been told by Neonworks Of Cincinnati that the hands are to be returned to their original "skeletonized" version, or see through. If this is correct then the hands will not have white in the middle of the hands but instead will be see-through, only the aluminum frame of the hands outlined in neon light will be part of the hands. (Update. Indeed the clock was released with the skeletonized hands. Will they one day be updated?) At some point in the history of the clock white, (possibly aluminum, what was the white material made of?) plates were added filling in the center sections of the hands making them more visible. Neon tubes were added to the perimeter of the hands; together, they gave the impression from afar that the clock hands were red-orange. Neonworks of Cincinnati is working on replacing the neon tubes on the clock's hands. The picture was taken at the American Sign Museum's workshop. https://www.cincymuseum.org/un... The Union Terminal Clock Watch When Cincinnatian Rick Bell designed The Union Terminal Watch, he made great efforts to ensure the hands were the correct color, look, and shape of the hands of the Union Terminal clock.  He made a great effort to ensure the white circle second-hand cap was included. But what makes the clock, and what Rick made sure he pronounced, are the curved petals around the radius of the dial. It is literally a two-layer sandwich dial. Those delicate flower petals and how they contrast subtly with their background is a feature we were sure to evolve, add it's impetus in making this clock one of the most beautiful clocks to look at.  Two variations of the Cincinnati Watch dial were presented to the Union Terminal President, Elizabeth Pierce, and the watch you see is the version selected. (There is only one of the version not chosen: Rick has it :) The Union Terminal holds special meaning to all Cincinnatians, especially with Mark Stegman, one of the co-owners of Cincinnati Watch Co. His Grandfather, Joe Haworth, and his great-grandfather, "Timer", worked at the Union Terminal. Joe Haworth said that the best seat in the house for Cincinnati Reds Opening Day at Crosley Field was from "Sitting on top of the Union Terminal clock". Cincinnati Watch Company is honored to give to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal with every purchase of a Union Terminal Watch.  How the Union Terminal clock works: The clock uses weights, gears, and a regulator to create a power device called a movement to power the clock and regulate the release of the energy in time. Initially, tower clocks would use hand-wound power to wind and lift a weight into the air. The constant pull of gravity on the weight powered the clock. Someone would have to wind the clocks regularly.  Mechanical energy at its best. Today, electricity is used to engage a motor every thirty (30) minutes that pulls the heavyweight up. The weight is pulled down by the force of gravity, which is the force turning the gears. The Union Terminal clock's minute hand ticks a half-minute once every 30 seconds—two "clicks" a minute. Seeing the Union Terminal clock's movement kick on is amazing. Here's the video of the Union Terminal clock's movement kicking on and making one half a minute tick of the hands. https://youtu.be/vGeWs5BFAek  A video of the clock by the CMC Cincinnati Union Terminal Clock Resources Historical photos of the Union Terminal exterior Below are links to a two-part blog post detailing a tour of above the rotunda, the Clock and going behind the scenes at CUT. 2013 Blog Focused on Art Deco design of the CUT. https://www.ohiohistory.org/le... Questions We Still Have: Who was the 1989 donor who got the clock going again with their own private time and money? What year did the hands on the clock get fixed with neon and have the space between the hands filled in with white? What was the white material? What will the clock look like when Verdin completes the restoration? Stay tuned because The Cincinnati Watch Company has just been invited to tour the Verdin clock company and see firsthand what the Union Terminal Clock is going to look like!  Update coming soon.

Questions We Still Have:

Who was the 1989 donor who got the clock going again with their own private time and money?

What year did the hands on the clock get fixed with neon and have the space between the hands filled in with white? What was the white material?

What will the clock look like when Verdin completes the restoration? Stay tuned because The Cincinnati Watch Company has just been invited to tour the Verdin clock company and see firsthand what the Union Terminal Clock is going to look like! 
ANSWER: Now we know. The Union Terminal Clock hands are now skeletonized, while the old hands had white panels behind the raised neon tubes outlining the hands. 

If you are from Cincinnati, you are literally connected by bus line to the Union Terminal. The Cincinnati bus would literally take you into the Union Terminal, and out of the Union Terminal through tunnels on either side that performed a quarter turn downward circle to the train platform for drop off and pick up. 

 If you moved here, you may have arrived by train, entering the Union Terminal as your first experience of Cincinnati. 

Most of the American soldiers in the European theater had a layover in Union Terminal. " Lovely place, Cincinnati," was the response soldiers from Cincinnati received when informing their co-patriots where they're from. All the soldiers in Europe would say they had been to Cincinnati bc the likely lay over at Union Terminal on the way to the East Coast.

Build and Maintain Union Terminal

We have our Union Terminal Stories: Grandpa Joe Haworth and his Father, "Timer" Haworth, my great-grandpa, worked at the Union Terminal for many, many years. 

Great Grandpa "Timer" was a master upholsterer, a point of pride when we view the best remaining picture of the Concourse clock, showing the leather-bound waiting seats riveted in an exquisite, comfortable design.

My great-grandfather helped make and repair the seating at Union Terminal, and he likely got his son, Joe Haworth, on the track gang when Joe was around 14. Playing baseball on the farm in North Dakota, growing up, Joe played catcher; on the crew building the train bridge over the Ohio River, his position was to sit in a holster, swinging off the steel bridge over the Ohio River. Joe Haworth caught hot rivets being dropped down from the fire to be shoved into place for a riveter, likely also hanging, would drive the red hot rivet into the metal holes. The rivet would cool and create a great bond between two pieces of steel. connecting the steel beams of the >>>> bridge. 

This bridge: 

Family: Joe & Timer Haworth & The Union Terminal

Joe Haworth is the Grandpa to all Cincinnatians, he is one of the greatest member of The Greatest Generation. 

With paintings his sister painted of Joe Morgan & Johnny Bench in his air-conditioned basement in St. Bernard, he watched every Reds game ever played, even watched other teams from other cities play baseball, he was that kind of baseball fan.

Our family loves that his name, Joe Haworth, is inscribed on a brick at Great American Ball Park, butted up against the statue of his favorite player, Johnny Bench. We don't visit Joe Haworth's grave, we visit the brick inscribed with his name butted up against the Johnny Bench Statue at Great American Ball Park.

The Men Who Tended The Union Terminal

Joe Haworth first got on at the Union Terminal as a teenager on the rail crew pounding in steel nails laying and repairing tracks. His Father, "Timer" worked at The Union Terminal as a Master Upholster. 

Hanging off steel bridges 

Catching Fire Hot Rivets

Joe Haworth helped build the bridge the train runs over leaving and entering the Union Terminal. Joe, the baseballer he was, a catcher, would hanging from the steel above the Ohio River and catch hot rivets tossed down to him, then hold them in place while another worker hanging from the bridge drilled the rivet into the steel.

Celebrate Our Maker History

Joe & "Pres" Took Care Of the Union Terminal

When Joe Haworth and his co-worker "Press" (Real Name="Preston") "Got Back" from "The War", the Union Terminal had a skeleton crew to maintain the train station, so a lot of maintenance, alot, was differed.  The old-timers who had been on skeleton crews told the young men now filling their ranks again, picking up their old jobs, or joining the crew fresh, of ongoing maintenance problems that have existed for several years since they had been gone at war.

Joe & Press held The Union Terminal Together as a Maintenance Carpenters until 1955 when Joe Haworth got on at Proctor & Gamble.

An Interview with Joe Haworth

Listen below as Joe Haworth tells of how when he got back from the war returning to their jobs at The Union Terminal in the Spring of 1946, he and a co-worker fixed the leaking roof of the Union Terminal clock that had been leaking at that point for two years. 

While the Union Terminal was important to the war effort and was one of the only train stations that received funding for repairs during the war years, Maintenance was on a skeleton crew. Heck, everyone was off fighting the war, like Joe Haworth.

IMAGE INSIDE THE CUT CLOCK

The following interview of Joe Haworth was recorded around 1995, nearly 50 years since Joe and his co-worker fixed the Union Terminal Clock's Roof.

State of the Terminal upon returning from the war

Joe is recalling the state that the terminal was in when they returned from the war. Particularly, how the administrators of the Union Terminal were looking at having to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 ( $156,000 adjusted for inflation) to erect scaffolding on the outside of the Terminal to access and fix the leak in the roof of the Union Terminal clock.

A Real Solution

Instead, two men from the Greatest Generation did the following to fix the leaking roof of the Cincinnati Union Terminal Clock in one and a half days with no additional cost to the Terminal. No need for scaffolding outside the building.

Hear his tale from 1946 of how he and his coworker, Press, made the decision, got materials, and built a scaffold inside on top of the glass catwalk behind the Union Terminal's East-facing glass windows and famous art deco clock in order to reglaze the roof above the clock. But "the windows were all rusted shut and had to be taken apart and oiled first."

Warning: Curse words, his color commentary gets quite vivid sometimes. It should be noted that during the interview the Cincinnati Bengals are playing on the TV, so more, many more curse words will be heard.

Classic Joe Haworth at 11:17. A man who gave everything to others, life, his Country & The Church, only after giving so much could one elicit classic Joe Haworth humor...

This interview is given to the Public and Cincinnati Union Terminal for historical purposes from the Kathy Haworth Stegman Family in Cincinnati.

Images of 1940's Cincinnati, Color Commentary Highlighting the Tale.

We learn from the interview that the Union Terminal was in bad shape in 1946. It was because the maintenance crew was diminished during WW2? We learn from long-time Cincinnati Rail Club member Patrick Rose that The Terminal did go short-staffed and deferred some maintenance during the war. 

As the story goes, during the war when men from Cincinnati would tell other soldiers where they're from everyone there would say "Oh yeah, I've been there. Lovely Place." because almost all of the soldiers had stopped in Cincinnati Union Terminal on the way East to the ports of Europe.

We hear how Joe and his buddy Press, in order to reach the roof of the clock, barrow a sturdy beam from a maintenance janitor who works for a railroad, and not the Union Terminal. They had to make sure they did not share, or report sharing, resources between the different companies who worked out of The Union Terminal's expansive hallways.

Joe Haworth worked at the Union Terminal starting on the tracks gang in or around 1940 at the age of 17. There he would have pounded steel nails into train tresses, and there he would have hung from the Southern bridge catching the red hot rivets and holding them in place while a riveter drove them into the bridge while hanging over the Ohio River. A baseball catcher who grew up on a farm playing baseball, he was well suited.

Joe joined the Marines in 1941. Unable to be a bomber gunner due to his eyesight, he was a hydraulics mechanic on the ground in the Pacific throughout the entire war. He was brought home to prepare for the mainland invasion of Japan; the soldiers actually left on a boat to assemble when shortly after their departure they were turned around and brought home not told why. Only later to learn the war was over.

Joe Haworth once said that the best view of opening day at Crosley Field was from sitting atop the Cincinnati Union Terminal Clock.

The Work Ethic of The Greatest Generation

Joe and Press re-grouted the entire exterior of the Union Terminal, twice! It took them three weeks each time. He brags about how fast they were in doing so. One would move down the outside of the CUT (secured - sliding under control? who knows!) cleaning out the loose concrete while the next would come right behind filling with concrete. They made their own caulking gun out of a bag filled with mortar; a novel invention at the time.

Celebrate the City of Makers

-The Cincinnati Union Terminal Watch is Dedicated To Joe Haworth (1923 - 1997), and his father (my daughter's great-great-grandfather) "Timer", and the men and women who made The Union Terminal what it is today.

We are forever grateful. Thank you!

The Union Terminal in Cincinnati was an engineering marvel in its day, complete with incredible advanced technology for its time.  The defining feature of the Union Terminal is its massive half-dome, one of the largest half-domes in the World.

• Union Terminal – Cincinnati, USA
  1933, 180 feet (55 meters) wide and 106 feet (32 meters) high.

• Pantheon – Rome, Italy
  126 AD, a concrete dome with a diameter of 43.4 meters (142 feet). 

• Florence Cathedral (Il Duomo) – Florence, Italy
  1436, diameter of 45.5 meters (149 feet), making it one of the largest masonry domes ever constructed.

• Hagia Sophia – Istanbul, Turkey
  537 AD, Hagia Sophia's dome spans 31 meters (102 feet) 

• Dome of the Rock – Jerusalem
  691 AD,  Wooden dome approximately 20 meters (66 feet) in diameter.

Impressive list for sure! What allowed the Union Terminal architects to build such a mammoth half-dome larger than any for thousand of years? You guessed it, Steel.

Union Terminal's High Steel

I'm sure you've wondered how the gaint half dome at Union Terminal was built, the half-dome seems to float above you, lie the sky. It's doesn't seem to be connected to anything. For those lucky enough to take the High Steel tour at Union Terminal have witnessed how the half-dome is built, and it's the most delicately strong thing you'll ever witness. 

Up Up and Up

To access the Union Terminal High Steel, so they lovingly call the space above the half-dome, first you climb the side stairs, 3 flights. The square foot size of the Union Terminal is not readily apparent from the outside, the half-dome and stepped sides hide a massive office building, and control tower. Most of the original Union Terminalll, the Concourse, was also hidden from the arriving view as it extended over the tracks. Up the steps you go to office spaces and even a large room where massive of typists fit desks close would type all day.

On the Way Up

On your way up the stairs are the access doors to the catwalk. My oldest Sister was lucky as a child to go up and walk across the catwalks in between the windows in the front of the Union Terminal. This is how workers can accesses the movement of the clock and control the ventilation of the space by opening and closing the windows; all of which were connected in a row.

Huge shout-out to one of our best photographers, Michael Svach. Seen below, American Badass! (These aren't his photos in this blog). Michael created the original Union Terminal watch photo.

The original Union Terminal Watch Photo was conceived by and staged by photographer Michael Svach.

American Steel

. My Grandfather Joe took her, he was a carpenter at the terminal; I imagine he probably took smoke breaks before he quit, up in the high steel.

Up you go!

The Holy Office. 

Gentlemen, and I can confidently say gentlemen, our analytics show 99% male viewership on our site. 99!

Women were not allowed into the boardroom. There is a line made of trial that the secretary could come into that far. She was the Only woman allowed into the room. 

The secretary of the President's office subtly lets you know that you are now cocooned in a curved world outside to in; the half dome penetrates the office and office decor. You realize that everything, Every Detail, is considered, engaged, and made beautiful. The desk is a perfect blend of function and beauty. The ideal of architecture in 1933, to be functional and beautiful; that which provides so much beauty and joy in our lives, the space in which we travel.

2018 Restoration

In 2018, the Union Terminal underwent a complete restoration; there were many individuals, companies, civic & other contributors who pulled resources to accomplish the monumental task of restoring & keeping the Union Terminal alive for another 100 years.  We thank them sincerely.

The clock, including the movement, dial, and hands on the Union Terminal, was restored by Verdin in Cincinnati. The clock underwent a design change during this renovation that included returning the hands to skeletonized, brightening the red indices with updated lighting, cleaning the dial, replacing broken glass panels, and completely servicing the movement. 

Here is a picture of the Union Terminal clock movement being restored inside Verdin Clock & Bell Company in Cincinnati. Thank you, Tim Verdin, for the tour. This meant the world to us. (See some Verdin tour pics here)

The Cincinnati Watch Company likes that the Union Terminal is more than the Cincinnati Museum Center, which created an interactive kids' floor paradise, beyond a great place to take our kids.

A portion of the proceeds of every Concourse watch is donated to Cincinnati Museum Center, the children's museum inside of Union Terminal.

There is a ton of great content by amazing authors about the Art Deco Temple to Transportation Union Terminal but we are going to focus on the aspects that us Watch Nerds Love best.