A Tower of Strength

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For more than a century, it has stood on Old Northern Boulevard, a witness to changing times and seasons in the Village of Roslyn. The old clock tower, at right in a circa-1912 photo, and today, below, remains resolutely the same, ringing out the time each hour.

The 44-foot tower was built in 1895 for $7,000 in memory of Ellen Eliza Ward, a twice-widowed longtime resident whose estate was valued at $3 million when she died in 1893. The tower was given to Roslyn by her children and heirs, Virginia, Robert and William Stuart. While alive, Ellen Ward had contributed generously to her church, Trinity Episcopal, and to the village, which she gave a granite drinking fountain and a fire truck.

It's not surprising that the tower has endured. Built from granite with red sandstone trimmings, its brick-lined walls are 2 feet, 6 inches thick. The bell weighs 2,700 pounds.