The "An Honorable Profession" Story

Bowman Technical School and store at the
south-east corner of W. Chestnut and N. Duke St.

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished my walk around the city of Lancaster with a few photos of the Bowman Watch Co. at the south-east corner of West Chestnut and North Duke Streets.  Building seems to have been there forever and was where my dad went to school to learn to be a watchmaker.  After dad returned from WWII he resumed his job at Meiskey's Jewelry Store on the first block of West Chestnut St. as a laborer.  Wasn't long before he signed up to enter Bowman's Technical School on the second and third floors of the Bowman Watch Company.  Not sure how long it took him to graduate, but he ended up being the manager at Meiskey's Jewelry Store before he retired in the mid-1980s.  Being a watchmaker was an honorable profession.  

My dad at work at Meiskey's Jewelry store in downtown Lancaster.

Watchmakers played a big part in the modern industrial system of our country.  Henry Ford began his career as a watch-

maker as well as Robert Fulton, Ottmar Mergethaler (Inventor or the Linotype machine that revolutionized printing), and Elias Howe (Inventor of the sewing machine).  So you can see he importance of watchmakers to our country.  It was in 1879 that Ezra F. Bowman, a Lancaster High School and Franklin and Marshall Academy graduate and a successful retail jeweler,

Ezra F. Bowman, pioneer in horological education
and founder of the Bowman Technical School.

ordered some watchmaking machinery to start making watches above his jewelry store.  Less than a year later, with the help of a former Lancaster Watch Co. superintendent and five other workmen, Bowman made some additional small tooling to make his watches.  By 1882 he and his crew had finished about 50 movements which were considered high quality.  All parts of his watches were made in his shop at 106 East King Street except for the dials and balances.  The watches proved to be expensive to make and he had to sell them for $125 to break even, so Bowman decided to give up watchmaking, but continued his wholesale jewelry business.  He also began to improve and make watchmaker's tools which gained him world-wide fame for their quality.  

Article in a trade magazine telling you about the school,
cost and length of time needed to graduate.

Then in 1887 he founded the Bowman Technical School for teaching watch- making and at his death in 1901, his business and school was housed at 34 East Chestnut Street in downtown Laancaster.  His sons suceeded him in his business with son John running the school while Charles ran the mercantile business.  In 1912 they bought the site at the corner of Duke and Chestnut which was the home of Henry E. Slaymaker, Postmaster of Lancaster.  

Students working on their watches at the school.

The house had been built in 1849 by Jacob Albright who was Mayor of Lancaster in 1855.  Eventually in 1912-1913 the present Bowman building was built.  Normal capacity of the school was 100 students, but with the ending of the war and with the G.I. Bill in effect, there were over 2,000 applicants to enter courses.  The school had to decide if they should expand or stay the same size.  

An ad for a watchmakers tool that was developed by
Ezra F. Bowman and offered for sale in publications.

They actually chose to diminish in size to under 100 students in order to maintain superior instruction.  Dad was picked to be one of those students.  The school offered three classes, but I have no idea which one my dad took.  In the early 70s the business was sold and eventually the school was moved to 220 West King Street.  Bowman Technical School closed in 1992. The building now stands vacant in downtown Lancaster.  Today fewer people wear watches due to cell phone usage.  Will watchmaking ever return to its high status it once held?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I'm sure dad would have a few choice words on the topic if he were still alive.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Following are a few more illustrations and photos I either found or took on my recent tour of the city of Lancaster, PA.

The interior of a Bowman pocket watch with the engraving of the watchmaker.

The face of a Bowman watch.

Box of watch mainsprings offered to watchmakers by Bowman.

Advertisement for the Bowman Technical School.

Yes, even young woman were permitted to enroll in the watchmaking school. 

Front of a flyer that told of the school.

This is a Bowman timepiece that still remains in the front window of the Bowman building in downtown Lancaster.

If you look at the first photo I posted you will see the front of the store and school.  The door to the far right was where you entered the Technical School and climbed these stairs to reach the classroom.

Another Ezra F. Bowman hand-crafted watch.

The handles of his watchmaking tools usually had this engraving on them.  All done by hand.

There still remains two clocks on the old Bowman building.  They no longer work, but many a time I would check the clock when I was coming into the city from the north to go to choir practice at the other end of the block.

Bowman's was not only a school but a watch repair shop as well as a jewelry store.

Another photograph I found of the students at work in their watchmaking class.