Whipple clock tower runs again after years in disrepair

The Whipple clock tower on Feb. 1, 2025. Photo by Iris McClure.

This March, Willamette University’s Whipple clock tower ran after years of being right only twice per day. 

In a December Today@Willamette, facilities announced plans to try to repair the clock tower, which lies in Jackson Plaza.

Facilities had tentatively hoped to have the clock running by the start of the spring semester. It was officially fixed on March 5, according to a statement from facilities to The Collegian, and now tells the correct time. The tower’s chime was intermittently heard in early March. However, at the time of publication, no chime can be heard with any regularity. The Collegian was unable to reach facilities for comment on the question of the tower’s chime. 

The clock tower, built in 1986, was named after Jim S. and Mildred Wilcox Whipple, who were both members of the Douglas County Pioneer Families, a designation given to individuals who descended from some of the earliest American settlers who came westward on the Oregon Trail. 

A later member of the Whipple family, Jerry Whipple, helped fund the $125,000-$150,000 construction of the tower. Jerry Whipple was the director of alumni relations and the vice president for student affairs from 1967 to 1972. 

Soon after the construction of the tower, in the spring semester of 1987, it ceased to ring due to a structural error that prevented the whole clock from working. It was working as recently as several years ago, according to facilities’ Today@ statement.

There were other times throughout the clocktower’s history when it needed to be repaired, according to The Collegian archives. In 2010, the Associated Students of Willamette University raised funds for repairs to fix its chime. 

When the Whipple clock tower was first built, its popularity began to exceed the Cupola — the white dome atop Waller Hall — as the symbol of Willamette University.