UConn students revamp Hartford's historic Keney Clock Tower

Photo | Contributed The Keney Memorial Clock Tower in Hartford.

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By Joe Cooper

Engineering students at UConn have completed overhauling the 19th-century Keney Memorial Clock Tower at the corner of Main and Ely streets in Hartford.

The 130-foot clock tower, built in 1898, had been silent for several years until a team of senior engineering students began restoring its time-keeping and original chimes over the last two semesters.

The newly restored tower will be on display Tuesday, April 23, at 11:30 a.m. during an event attended by students from UConn’s department of mechanical engineering, city officials and local historians.

The cost of the restoration was about $3,000, UConn officials said Thursday. The state Department of Economic and Community Development kicked in a $1,000 historic preservation grant to support the project, and the school’s mechanical engineering department covered the remaining $2,000 costs.

UConn officials said the historical landmark is believed to be Hartford’s only freestanding tower.

It was built on land owned by brothers Henry and Walter Keney, a pair of local businessmen who left portions of their estate to the city.

The landmark was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

This story has been updated to include the cost of the renovation