Published: August 29, 2008 12:00 am            

Bank clock tower unveiled

Phyllis Murray has vivid memories of Norman's Main Street shopkeepers setting their daily schedules by the First National Bank clock hanging on the building at Main Street and Peters Avenue.

"It's always kept good time," said Murray, a great-granddaughter of the bank's founder, Edward Bryant Johnson. She also remembers playing jacks in a corner of the bank. Her mother gave her a safety sucker but she couldn't eat it until the clock said 10:30 a.m.

Murray joined bankers Don Symcox and Charles Hollingsworth in unveiling the Legacy Trail Plaza and Clock Tower at the corner of Jones Avenue and Main Street Friday morning.

The lighted clock has been stored at various locations for the past 20 years. It was refurbished before it was installed in the plaza earlier this year.

The plaza, sixth along the Legacy Trail, pays tribute to First National Bank (now Chase Bank), City National Bank (now First Fidelity Bank) and Security National Bank (now Arvest Bank). Those three banks and their successors anchored "bank corner" for many years.

Symcox said he appreciated the remembrance of the bank corner. "I came onto the scene when there were three banks on the three corners and they've been there a long time," he said, joking there are now other corners in Norman with competing banks.

Hollingsworth, first hired by Security National Bank in 1964, acknowledged members of the Patten family in the audience. He noted the bank's founder Charles H. Bessent, former presidents and chairmen W.H. Patten and J.H. "Jack" Patten and longtime officers Al Loeffelholz, Jr., and Ted Creger and bank investor Jim Walton as instrumental in the bank's history.

Legacy Trails organizer Bob Goins said the location of the clock tower was his childhood playground. His mother ran the Sweet Shoppe adjacent to the Sooner Theatre.

"This was my stomping ground," Goins said, adding he used to jump up and try to slap the clock along Main Street. The new location is out of his and others' reach.

Architect Rick McKinney, whose firm, The McKinney Partnership, designed the plaza, said he was proud to be involved with the project. He singled out the firm's interns Nathan Coffey and Bryan Rainbow and Downey Construction Co. for their work on the plaza.

Former city councilman David Hopper said the clock tower came about as part of the city's Centennial celebration. He thanked donors and fundraisers Gene McKown and Chuck Thompson for their help.

"I've realized that if everybody in town is against me, I want Gene and Chuck on my side," joked Hopper.

McKown, a longtime Norman resident and developer, said he and his wife, Judy, are passionate about the trail which tells the story of Norman's history. Eventually, he said, the trail will be 14 miles long and lead from south of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History to Ruby Grant Park at 36th Avenue NW and Franklin Road.

Goodno's Jewelry Store helped in the clock's restoration. Local historian Bob Rice researched the bank history for a plaque. The text was written by Ty Hardiman.

"This is fantastic," said Hardiman, who first learned of the clock from Goins more than eight years ago.

"The Centennial celebration really got this project going," Hardiman said. "You can't just take a 6-foot clock and put it anywhere.

"So many pieces of Norman's history have been lost. This is neat that it's been saved."

Andy Rieger 366-3543 editor@normantranscript.com

        

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