On July 5, 1871, the William L. Gilbert Clock Company was formed at , Conn. to succeed the Gilbert Manufacturing Company (1866-1871) which had been dissolved after a fire destroyed the factory. These firms had grown out of the operations of William L. Gilbert (1806-890) who, , hadbeen involved in in Bristol, and Connecticut.In July of 1873, the new factory complex was completed and manufacturing commenced. George B. Owen (1834-1916) had come to in 1866 as General Manager and ran the firm for nearly , designing many interesting cases and patenting several clock movement features. o operated a concurrent clock business at between 1875 and1894.In 1897, the Gilbert firm built a four-story building for a new case shop and another building by 1900 for storage and shipping. A three-story office building was built in 1902. The recession, which began in 1907, along with the financial pressures of their recent expansion headed the firm in a decline that culminated by forcing George B. Owen and his sons to relinquish control in 1914Bankruptcy and liquidation were barely avoided in 1914 and a new manager, Charles E. Williams, was appointed and served until his death in 1930, just a few months following the stock market crash. Pressures of the Great Depression and money spent in developing electronic clocks sentthe firm into receivership in September, 1932.On July 20,1934, a new firm
