Tuesday Treasures

 

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

August 2023 - Skagway Alaska

The 50-foot-wide by 75-foot-tall clock was originally painted between 1898 and 1900 by Peter Kern, who owned one of the first jewelry shops in Skagway.

Kern’s turn-of-the-century jewelry business was “a symbol of independent merchants in Skagway,”

Not long after, Herman Kirmse, who was a fellow watchmaker, bought out Kern’s jewelry shop.

“He is most well known for a watch chain made out of 10 large gold nuggets for saloon owner and gambler Pat Renwick,” longtime Skagway historian and journalist Jeff Brady said of Kirmse, who descended from a family of European watchmakers, jewelers and doctors.

Back during the Gold Rush days, business owners placed billboards on the cliff, which is why Kern originally painted the clock.

Since it was painted by Kern, the clock has been repainted three times. The first time, around 1961, by Paul Cyr, Bill Hunz and Dick Hopkins. The second time was around 1982, with the work done by Steven Hanson and then in 2020.