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Floral Clock, Water Works Park, Detroit, Michigan, ca. 1900s

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of clocks.

This is an early twentieth-century photo of the Floral Clock in Detroit's Water Works Park. According to Floral Clock at Water Works Park, an article by Dan Austin on the HistoricDetroit.org site, the "clock ran on cup-shaped paddlewheels that moved as water flowed. The clock itself was made up of more than 7,000 plants that were held in place by chicken wire."

For additional views of this remarkable timepiece, see Floral Clock at Water Works Park - Old photos and Postcards of Floral Clock at Water Works Park.

This is an unused real photo postcard, and the type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on the other side suggests a possible date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918.
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2 comments

RicksPics said:

I saw a steam-driven clock in Vancouver but never a water-driven clock. Fascinating. I suppose they shut it down in winter. Now I'm wondering what time they set the hands to. Hmmm.
17 months ago

Alan Mays replied to RicksPics:

Thanks, Rick! A steam-driven clock sounds interesting, too! I'm not sure I understand how either mechanism could keep time.
16 months ago