The flag is no longer flying over the historic City Hall bell tower in downtown Manchester, NH. City Clerk Matt Normand told the Union Leader, the structure at 908 Elm Street is in “desperate need” of work to restore it to its former glory.
“We discovered the floor structure supporting the flagpole is rotted to a point it can no longer support the stress of flying the American flag,” Normand said in a Leader article. In addition, there is dry rot in several of the support beams in the tower, originally built in 1845, and the harsh New England winters have been hard on the facades of the tower. The bell still chimes but the clocks have stopped working.
Normand submitted the projected costs to Manchester’s Mayor, Joyce Craig. The bill to restore the town’s “most iconic and historic landmark” came in at $400,000.
“The tower’s restoration is vital in order to protect and preserve Manchester’s most iconic and historic landmark,” Normand wrote in a memo to aldermen, reported the Union Leader.
April 4, 2018
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