Have you noticed a missing State College landmark? Clock repairs on the way
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The historic clock was removed after a vehicle collision damaged its base and frame.
- First National Bank owns the clock and plans to work with the borough to reinstall it.
- The clock was first installed on South Allen Street in State College in 1928.
While thousands of people are in town for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts this week, some keen eyes may notice a landmark missing from a downtown State College sidewalk.
The historic Peoples National Bank clock is absent from its usual post on South Allen Street for just the second time in nearly 100 years. The towering clock was removed from the sidewalk outside what is now a First National Bank following a vehicle collision earlier this summer, borough and bank officials told the Centre Daily Times.
While the exact nature of the collision remains unclear, a First National Bank spokesperson said the base and frame of the clock were damaged by a passing truck, though the glass and the clock itself were left intact. What was left from the former base of the clock was temporarily removed from the Allen Street sidewalk for safety purposes, a bank spokesperson said, as a corporate restoration team moves forward with planning repairs.
First National Bank, which owns the clock and is responsible for coordinating repairs, said it will work with the State College borough to hash out a reinstallation plan outside the bank at 117 S. Allen St. The clock will sit in storage with the borough’s public works department until a bank contractor retrieves it, according to Sam Robbins, the borough’s public works director.
Though First National Bank has already expressed interest in completing repairs, the borough’s public works department said a sign contractor will inspect the clock to determine the cost of restoring it to working condition and, ultimately, reinstalling it on Allen Street. As of Friday morning, the borough says it has not received any additional information or direction from the bank regarding the clock’s future.
The Pittsburgh-based FNB Corporation, the holding company for First National Bank, launched a Main Street Revitalization Program in 2025 that will invest nearly $50 million in improving historic bank facades and features, as well as in financing and grant programs for small businesses. A company spokesperson implied repairs to the Allen Street clock would fall in line with First National Bank’s commitment toward preservation.
“We are very proud of and dedicated to our history,” a bank spokesperson said.
An Allen Street landmark
The Peoples National Bank clock first graced the Allen Street sidewalk in 1928. Its namesake bank was chartered in State College in 1922 on the corner of Allen Street and what is now Calder Way, where it has remained under several other names for more than a century.
The clock’s first leave of absence came when it was taken down in 1969. It was later reinstalled at a post closer to the road along Allen Street in 1970 when the Peoples National Bank completed work on a new building, according to CDT reports at the time.
Decades ago, the clock received regular maintenance to keep its time on track and its chimes ringing.
According to a January 1969 issue of the CDT, the Peoples National Bank clock played an important role for Penn State students and faculty in its early years. Ralph D. Hetzel, the university’s 10th president, said the community must rely on the clock for cooperative timekeeping.
“It has been suggested that there would be greater uniformity in the time of beginning and dismissing classes if the watches and students and instructors could be synchronized,” Hetzel wrote in a faculty bulletin published Oct. 29, 1929. “The most convenient clock for this purpose would seem to be that of the Peoples National Bank on Allen St. Until some other plan appears preferable, the time indicated by this clock will be considered official College time.”
Over the years, the clock took on a significant role in marketing for the bank as it became more widely known and appreciated. Advertisements published in the CDT in July 1976, for example, suggested friends would meet at “The Clock” and know exactly which one they meant.
Andrew Carey, the State College borough’s receptionist, said he’s thrilled to see the Peoples National Bank clock reinstalled along Allen Street someday soon.
“It’s not a huge thing, but it’s always been nice to have it there,” Carey said. “It’s old-fashioned, and that’s part of what I like about it. Assuming it keeps accurate time, it’s nice having it there. It’s got a pleasant face and a real charm to it.”
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