After the Floor, Firefighters Rescued the Ellicott City Clock
By Elizabeth Janney
In the days after a flood swept through Main Street in Ellicott City, first responders were dispatched on a special mission. The city’s clock, which had been anchored outside the B&O Railroad Museum since 2000, had washed 
away from its perch on Maryland Avenue and drifted into Baltimore County.
A kayaker spotted the clock and passed its location along to Howard County officials. Then firefighters were called for the rescue. “We knew it was there, but we had to come back and find it because it wasn’t a priority,” says Gordon Wallace, assistant chief of the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services.
For days, first responders had been systematically searching the dozens of vehicles that had been swept down Main Street for victims of the July 30 storm. Cars were left sideways on the sidewalk or belly-up in the Patapsco River. Multiple crews searched the river the week after the storm, according to Wallace. After three days, he says, officials were “confident” there were no victims in need of rescue or recovery, so firefighters turned their attention to the clock.
Their last big mission, on August 2, says Wallace, was to “save the clock.” He and other firefighters hauled the clock back over to Howard County. The crews train together regularly, which he says came in handy as they created a trolley system to pull the clock out of the water, a task that took close to two hours.
“We had to be careful with it,” Wallace says. “We didn’t want to damage it as we were bringing it out.”
The following day, the clock was returned to its original spot, the date marked in a new cement base, the hands pointing to 9:20 – where time stopped the night of the storm. The clock had originally sported a plaque from the Kiwanis Club, which had dedicated the timepiece to Ellicott City in 2000 to celebrate the local club’s 60-year history.
After the clock was reinstalled, county officials thanked residents, first responders and public works for their roles in bringing the clock home. “This is a symbol of Ellicott City,” County Executive Allan Kittleman said, standing in front of the clock. “We’re here to stay.” *
