Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association

The Bar Harbor Town Clock hasn’t always been at its present location, although to see it today one might think the clock, the nearby fountain, and the bandstand have always been the crowning jewels for Bar Harbor’s Village Green. The Village Improvement Association (VIA) presented the clock to the Town of Eden in time for the town’s centennial celebration in July 1896, after years of contentious debate. Mr. Fred C. Lynam, on behalf of the Association, presented a resolution before the March 1896 Town Meeting for the acceptance of a town clock to be placed on Main Street in the village of Bar Harbor. The clock was first placed on the sidewalk in front of Mr. Albert Bee’s store at 116 Main Street.

The VIA was established in 1881 “to carry out such work of amelioration and adornment, as might from time to time be suggested to science and good taste, in order to bring the village itself into a greater conformity with its beautiful environment.” Its founders and members were instrumental in designing Bar Harbor’s downtown, parks and gardens, as well as Kebo Valley Golf Course, and the boundaries and some trails of Acadia National Park.

Later, in the summer of 1904, the officers of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association approached the town selectmen about a ten year lease of the town lot for the purpose of constructing and landscaping a village green. The proposal was accepted at Eden’s Town Meeting in March 1905, and the project was embraced by the VIA as a demonstration of the association’s serious business: that of village improvement.

Immediately upon accepting the Village Green project, Eden’s selectmen declared that since the clock was owned by the VIA, that it be moved to the new park. Nine years before, when the association had presented the clock to the Town, the Town of Eden accepted ownership and upkeep: The VIA, however, had secured the Bar Harbor Light & Power Co. to illuminate the dial free of charge during the summer, and the VIA had provided services for winding the eight-day, weight-driven clock since its erection. The selectmen suggested that the clock be moved to the center of the new park so as not to obstruct traffic on Main Street, which was seen as a problem on the narrow sidewalk in front of Bee’s store.