Time Running Out for Topeka Clock Tower
By Krista Walton | From Preservation | Mar. 26, 2007
Last summer, residents of Topeka, Kan., were horrified to learn that the historic Menninger Clock Tower, which has overlooked the town since 1929, had been vandalized. More than 250 of the clock tower's windows were broken, graffiti covered many of the walls, and much of the property in the building was destroyed with what investigators suspect was a sledgehammer.
"It was devastating," says Doug Jones, former president of the Shawnee County Historical Society. "The damage was so extensive. It's unreal that people could do something like this."
Eighty years ago, the clock tower, a Georgian-style brick building modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia, served as the centerpiece of the Menninger Clinic, where Drs. Karl, Will, and C.F. Menninger established the first group psychiatry practice in the country. The Menningers went on to earn international renown for revolutionary treatment of mental illness. "This building is Topeka's number-one treasure architecturally and historically," Jones says.
The tower's future has been unclear since 2003, when the Menninger Clinic relocated to Houston, and the clock tower and other buildings were left vacant. Shortly after the clinic relocated, the Heritage Preservation Group of Topeka began restoring the clock tower, with the goal of converting it into office space and a museum. Instead, the tower was sold to another buyer, and then vandalized. Now the St. Francis Health Center has announced plans to purchase more than 100 acres of the Menninger campus property, including the damaged clock tower. Mike Schrader, president and chief executive officer of St. Francis, told local media that they have not yet decided on the future of the tower. Schrader did not return calls to Preservation Online.
This uncertainty has Topeka preservationists on edge; many worry that the site, adjacent to Topeka's primary shopping area and the expense of repair may lead the new owners to finish the destruction the vandals began. Indeed, says Jones, developers are "lusting after the land." He adds that a group of concerned community members are organizing to lobby St. Francis Health Center officials to preserve the building.
"There are really very few buildings in such bad shape that they can't be rehabbed," Jones says. "I hope that the new owners will recognize that, and restore it, and put it to use."
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