Westclox Manufacturing Plant Historic District

Along US Route 6 in Peru, Illinois, a sprawling brick factory complex marks the site where Westclox made clocks from 1885 until the plant closed in 1980. Over decades, new buildings were joined to old ones, producing what reads as one very large structure of more than 600,000 square feet. Forty-four buildings once stood here; twenty-one remain, after the mechanical buildings and smokestacks were demolished following closure. The buildings facing Route 6, largely designed by architect Victor Andre Matteson, have pilasters, patterned brick and terra cotta ornament, and a main entrance with a steel clock face. An administration building from 1922 sits across the road. Clocks, alarms, watches and military fuses made here reached customers across the country and abroad. The district was listed for its role in the economic development of Peru and the region and for advances in time mechanisms, with a significance period of 1885 to 1956.