109 Kelcy Way, Early, Texas at the City of Early Town Center Park
Use parking lot on the left behind O'Reilly's Auto Parts Store
Description:
This is a monumental sundial with a gnomon is 52 feet (16m) long and 24 feet (7.3m) tall at the point. Tall concrete pillars mark the hours from 7am to 5pm in an offset circle 60 feet (18m) in diameter. The 7:00am/5:00pm pillars are 7 feet (2.1m) tall, and stair-step in height 1 foot (0.3m) for each hour until the noon pillar at 12 feet (4m) tall. The pillars are asymmetrically arranged to accommodate the longitude offset from Central Standard Time at 90° longitude. The pillars are set at the outer edge of a 6 foot (2m) concrete walkway and back lit by LEDs at night. Directly under the tip of the gnomon are brass cardinal direction letters, memorial bricks and a rock garden, under which a time capsule has been buried to be opened on the city's 100th birthday. At night, LED lights in gnomon cut-outs show stars, the moon, and planets. There is a plaque in front of each pillar showing who made the donation for that particular pillar. Memorial bricks were another fundraiser. Around $107k in donations was raised in addition to grants from the city for the sundial project.
NASS analyzed architect drawings of the asymmetric pillar hour marks, determining that the pillars were set using the gnomon shadow at the base of the mid-point of the dial on the side facing away from the center of the circle. But the shadow is observed on the interior pillar face, leading to a small time error. More serious is the position of the pillars themselves, advanced westward for a longitude correction of approximately 3.90° instead of the required 8.95°. The result is a "partially corrected sundial". This can be fixed by an Equation of Time graph, where 16 minutes of the 36 minutes is accounted for by the physical location of the pillars, leaving 20 minutes to the EoT graphical correction. A sign for the sundial is expected by June, 2024
General Information:
Inscription:
Owner: City of Early, Texas
This is a legacy project designed, funded, and built by the 2023 Early TMCN Leadership Team of Reese Estess and Aryn Leslie. The theme was "Time to Shine." (There is a park monument sign with details.)
