City of Spartanburg staff and the architecture firm McMillan Pazdan Smith have proposed rebuilding the city’s iconic clock tower at the entrance to Barnet Park — a move that would make the 1881 bell visible and walkable for the first time in decades.
The plan, presented at the March 23 city meeting, would anchor a new tower at the corner of East St. John Street and North Converse Street, adjacent to the Chapman Cultural Center and the Zimmerli Amphitheater. Under the design, visitors entering Barnet Park would pass through the tower beneath an arched gateway, with the 1881 bell visible in the belfry above — a feature that was impossible at the tower’s previous location on West Main Street, where the bell was hidden from street-level view.
City Manager Chris Story said the Barnet Park site was chosen specifically to avoid another relocation — noting that the tower has been moved twice previously and the city wants to anchor it in a place unlikely to face disruption for generations. William Gray, director of the Spartanburg office of McMillan Pazdan Smith, told members that the new structure is substantially larger than its predecessor, with the old tower small enough to fit inside the footprint of the proposed design.
Reaction among council members was mixed. Member Erica Brown said she preferred a site with more day-to-day foot traffic. Member Ruth Littlejohn argued the Barnet Park location would deliver greater visibility than the old West Main Street median site. Member Jamie Fulmer acknowledged there was much left to consider before a final vote.
The public comment period closed April 13, after which members took up a first-reading vote. The original 1976-79 tower was partly funded by 20,000 Spartanburg schoolchildren in a penny drive that raised $10,000 for the project.
