More Info →Newspaper article regarding the cross blown off Palmerston North Clock Tower, The Square

At 6.30am, 26 March 2006, a gust of wind felled the controversial cross on the top of Palmerston North's clock tower. In 1981 a permanant cross was erected by the Palmerston North City Council, relacing the temporary cross erected each Christmas. The cross on the Clock Tower has generated strong debate in the city over the years as evidenced by frequent letters to the editor and Council debates. At the time of the felling, plans had already been made, and hotly debated, to refurbish the clock tower and to replace the cross with a lantern style cross. This subsequently went ahead in 2007.