The Dreger Clock was built in the 1930's by Andrew Dreger Sr., whose family were pioneers to the early settlements of Anaheim, Long Beach and Buena Park.
Andrew developed many mechanical skills during his life. He repaired bicycles and other mechanical things, he worked with metal as a blacksmith and other jobs requiring mechanical and hand crafting skills. He built his own wood frame apartment building and home in Long Beach which withstood the quake of 1933 when other brick buildings collapsed. Toward the latter years of his life he took up watch and clock repair, and became fascinated with the idea of building a large electrically powered clock that could tell the time in major cities around the world.
He first built a pendulum powered indoor clock with multiple clock faces. Immediately after completing it he started on the much larger, town clock style version that would be electrically powered. It took him 5 years to build his masterpiece. When finished he placed it outside his home on Anaheim Street in Long Beach, CA and for almost 20 years he kept it in working order.
When Andrew passed away, his clock was
moved to Knott's Berry Farm.
Andrew's Sister Emily Dreger Holder was married to a neighbor of the Knotts,
so it was fitting that Walter Knott was the one to save the clock for posterity
by displaying it first in the "Ghost
Town" area of the park in its Rose Garden.
Later Knotts placed it out front of their ticket booths. For 50
years the clock fascinated visitors to the park.
But now the clock needs to be rescued for future generations again! The clock fell into disrepair and was eventually taken down from its place in front of Knott's Berry Farm. It disappeared from public view and ended up in a warehouse.
In August of 2007, Glenn Frank, a great grandson of Andrew noticed it
was missing from in front of Knott's. With a little searching
of the internet he found it again... in of all places... on eBay!
A few phone calls and emails to local organizations finally put
him in touch with the Buena Park Historical Society. BPHS took
up the challenge to save this historic icon of their city and
purchased the clock for restoration in October 2007.
