World's Largest Grandfather Clock | Wisconsin Explorers Guild

The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock

For nearly 50 years, Kewaunee, Wisconsin has been where you can find the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock.

Building the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock

Svoboda Industries was a furniture maker with a long history in Kewaunee. The company was started as Svoboda Church Furniture Company by Bohemian immigrant Joseph Svoboda in 1883.

By 1976 the company had expanded beyond church furniture and was well-regarded as a manufacturer of fine wood furniture and grandfather clocks. Svoboda’s owner, Richard Kohrt, had updated the name of the business to Svoboda Industries, and he wanted to do something special that would both celebrate the United States Bicentennial and draw attention to his business.

Kohrt hired Jake and Rodney Schiles who, with a team of dedicated craftsman, built a fully working grandfather clock out of California redwood. The clock, standing 35 feet, 8 inches tall and 8 feet wide, featured three faces that kept time using three different German-designed mechanisms.

The World's Largest Grandfather Clock. — The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock. Photo from the author’s collection.

The clock was completed in the fall of 1976 and was attached to the side of the Svoboda Industries building in downtown Kewaunee. The Milwaukee Public Library’s website displays a photo of the World’s Grandfather Clock in front of the Svboda Industries building from 1981.

In 1984, the bridge over the Kewaunee River needed replacing, but Svododa Industries and its grandfather clock were in the way. So the entire Svoboda manufacturing operation was moved north across the river. The clock was re-installed at the front of Svoboda’s new Gepetto’s Top of the Hill Shop.

Postcard image of World's Largest Grandfather Clock at Gepetto's Top of the Hill Shop in Kewaunee. c.1990 — Postcard featuring the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock at Gepetto’s Top of the Hill Shop. On the back of the postcard, the photo is credited to Jon’s Creative Photography of Kewaunee.

The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock stops

But by 2012, Svoboda Industries had closed up shop. The property where the grandfather clock stood was purchased by the City of Kewaunee to be used as an evidence lock-up facility for law enforcement.

By this time, the clock had become a big Kewaunee tourist attraction. The city, who didn’t want to the public to have access to a secure facility, made plans to remove the popular clock.

In late 2012, Kewaunee resident Jason Jelinek started a campaign to save the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock. His efforts got the attention of local news outlets and he created a Facebook Page — World’s Tallest Grandfather Clock in Kewaunee, WI (still active) — that generated a huge amount of support to restore the clock.

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In July 2013, the city had the clock dismantled and hauled away in two (somewhat large) pieces. After decades of exposure to the elements from its perch on the hill, the grandfather clock was in rough shape. Both the wooden exterior and the interior mechanisms needed to be repaired, and the city wanted it removed from the site.

Jelinek had a lot of help from people who who wanted to keep the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock ticking. Rodney Schiles, who helped build the clock with his dad in 1976, stepped in to help with the restoration. Others helped find a suitable site for the restored clock while a few worked to figure out how to repair the clock’s internal mechanisms.

And thousands of private citizens donated funds toward the restoration. In just over a year, a refurbished World’s Largest Grandfather Clock was ready to be placed in its new home.

The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock restored in its new location, complete with picnic pavilions.
Photo from the author’s collection.

A city icon restored

The city agreed to have the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock installed at the corner of Wisconsin Highway 42 (Milwaukee Street) and River Road (Miller Street), just a short distance across the road from where it had first stood in 1976.

This central location, at the head of the Ahnapee State Trail and across the street from the entrance to Kewaunee’s Harbor Park, ensured it would continue to be an iconic symbol welcoming travelers to Kewaunee.

The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock welcomes you to Kewaunee. Photo from the author’s collection.

The restored World’s Largest Grandfather Clock was erected on August 27, 2014. It still stands there today.

It took a little longer to get the clock’s internal mechanics sorted out, but on July 30, 2015, the World’s Largest Grandfather Clock started keeping time once again. By December 2015, the restoration was complete when the clock’s chimes were repaired and the clock started sounding off every quarter hour.