Effective community activism is a full time commitment: fundraising, campaigning, planning, strategizing and doing everything in one’s power to advance a cause. Greenwich Village residents took on that commitment to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, get the Courthouse’s clock working again and transform the building into a branch of the New York Public Library. The Jefferson Market Courthouse would have fallen if it were not for the Village Committee’s creation, in 1960, and determined activism through the sixties and seventies. In order to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, often referred to as “Old Jeff,” and its Clock, the Village Committee used all financial, lobbying and creative resources it had. The Village Committee’s dedication was based in its love for the building and clock, its belief in Old Jeff’s significance to the Greenwich Village neighborhood and the usefulness of the clock that sat atop the Old Jeff’s tall clock tower.
The efforts of the Village Neighborhood Committee and Greenwich Village activists are well documented; Committee correspondence and statements, newspaper articles and historical sources all exhibit the reasoning and journey of the Committee. The clock was a practical, iconic part of Old Jeff, which became a piece of Christmastime Village tradition. The building that stood on Sixth Avenue and West Tenth Street, whether it was a courthouse or library, was an architectural, aesthetic and cultural asset for Greenwich Village, and its residents realized that. These feelings in mind, Village residents wrote letters, raise funds, donated money, decorated their beloved clock tower, spent their time, talked to local organizations and businesses and lobbied their city government to preserve Jefferson Market Courthouse. A look through Committee records and the journalistic articles of the time would give any individual a valuable lesson in preservation, community activism and strong willed determination.
