Admiral Farenholt commissioned Sun Dials for Naval Hospitals from the 1920's thru the 1940's.The Admiral retired to San Diego in 1936 where he continued to commission dials thru the war years. This dial dated 1945 was made for theNaval Hospital in Houston, Texas [29.45 degrees latitude].The hospital in Houston was scheduled to open in 1945 but did not open until late in 1946. Several years before the completion Roosevelt expressed intentions to transfer the hospital to the Veterans Administration at the end of the war, and thetransfer was made by executive order President Truman in 1949. The dial was never installed.

Dial condition: The dial's inscription [tho still decipherable] has beenroughly chiseled off, easiest restoration wouldbe to smooth out entirely. The inscription read, "Naval Hospital, Houston Texas".. The gnomonis missing but dimensions and various designs are known.This is most likely the last commission of a remarkable man, and early dial enthusiast.

Of the nine knownFarenholt dials still in existence, this is the only one privately owned. The best examples viewed via internet are twodials located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda Md. the Brooklyn NY and Pearl Harbor dials, both of these dials are installed slightly tilted for latitude correction.The Admiral commissioned his dials for precise location and each have a unique motto either in Latin or English.The picture will show this dial's motto to be, "THIS HOUR ALONE IS THINE". These dials are among the most recognized and photographed in the USA.

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