'Time' for a new chapter: Bickel Clock returns to McGregor’s Main Street
The new Bickel Clock was installed alongside the Bickel Insurance building on McGregor’s Main Street two weeks ago. Last week, officials from the city of McGregor and McGregor-Marquette Chamber of Commerce, fellow McGregor business owners and friends and family gathered for a ribbon cutting to celebrate its arrival as well as Dan Bickel’s 50 years in business. (Photos by Audrey Posten)
Dan Bickel has had an interest in clocks since his youth, when he first traded for one, and has collected many over the years. He said it's only fitting one stands outside his business.
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
“I have a fondness for clocks,” said Dan Bickel.
The McGregor resident and long-time businessman has 240 to 250 in his collection, the largest of which—what the town fondly calls the “Bickel Clock”—was recently replaced alongside the Bickel Insurance building on Main Street.
Bickel dates his interest to childhood.
“I traded a gun for a clock,” he recalled. “I always bought and sold and traded things.”
Unfortunately, the clock didn’t work. He made the mistake of taking it apart, not knowing what would happen to the springs when they were removed without being clamped.
With a box full of parts, Bickel headed downtown to jeweler Chet Saeugling and asked if he could put it back together.
“He said, ‘Yeah, but I don’t like to work on these things, so I’ll show you how to put it together.’ I said, ‘OK, you’ve got a deal.’ I’ve fixed clocks for the last 60 years probably. It’s a hobby,” Bickel shared.
Among the favorites in Bickel’s collection are double dial calendar clocks, which not only display the time, but the date.
“These more plain ones,” Bickel said, pointing to a row displayed in the Bickel Insurance building, “date back to the 1840s and 1850s. They have all wooden gears in them. Brass was too expensive in those days.”
Another favorite—minus the noise it makes every 15 minutes—is a German Black Forest cuckoo clock.
“This is why I have a clock up front. Because I like clocks,” Bickel said.
The first clock at the corner of Main and A streets was erected over 100 years ago, according to Bickel. A photograph from the flood of 1905 shows it as the only thing standing when the building was destroyed.
“This is the fourth one that’s been on this corner,” he said.
While the first two clocks were likely signs, since images always display the same time, Bickel’s have been functioning.
His first clock, which was taken down in 2023 for McGregor’s Main Street construction project, went up on Sept. 11, 2001.
“We had it all scheduled” when news of the attacks on the World Trade Center broke, he recalled. They went ahead with installation, and it was on the front page of the North Iowa Times that week.
“Something positive,” Bickel said.
The clock was the result of a years-long battle with the state, who initially refused installation because it was in the right of way. Bickel even considered taking the matter to court.
Encouraged by then-city administrator Norm Lincoln, as well as the retirement of one particularly obstinate state official, Bickel tried again.
The new official responded, “‘I think that’s a great idea. I’ll give you a permit for that.’ I about fell out of my chair,” Bickel said. “That’s how the other one got there.”
Deterioration inside the 2001 clock prompted its replacement. At the time of removal, it was also discovered the 2017 tornado had cracked both the top and bottom of the structure. Rehabilitation would have cost just as much as a new clock, so Bickel opted for a new one.
“It’s all brand new, all electric. It’s run by a little bitty computer in the back hallway here,” Bickel explained. “It’s got a battery backup so, if the electricity goes off, when it comes back on, it will re-set itself. It does daylight saving time twice a year.”
The new clock was installed two weeks ago and, last week, officials from the city of McGregor and McGregor-Marquette Chamber of Commerce, fellow McGregor business owners and friends and family gathered for a ribbon cutting to celebrate its arrival as well as Bickel’s 50 years in business.
Mayor Lyle Troester called the clock “a staple of our community. It’s on most of our postcards. But besides that, you’ve been in business 50 years. You give back to the community. On behalf of McGregor, thank you a lot.”
Bickel was quick to brush aside the praise.
“There were other ones out there before. I just thought it would be nice to have it out there, and I like clocks,” he said humbly. “This is one of the focal spots in the town. It’s the main intersection. I’m gratified other people like it. It’s a significant investment, and it will last longer than I will.”
Bickel is proud, however, that the clock is a representation of the Bickel family’s long-time history in McGregor. His father started the insurance business in 1952, and his family has operated businesses for 130 to 140 years. Most notable was the meat market and grocery store, in a building later destroyed by the tornado. Great-grandfather W.H.C. Elwell was a world-renowned pearl merchant.
“We’ve been here a long time, so it’s fitting to have something out there with our name on it, I guess,” he quipped. “Nobody really needs a clock. You’ve got a cellphone to tell you what time it is. But it’s just kind of a nostalgic thing. It adds a little bit to the charm of McGregor, which has a lot of charm.”
