John E. Parker, H. J. P. Whipple, and other industrial partners founded the Parker & Whipple Manufacturing Company in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1868 to replace an older company of the same name that had been producing locks since 1895. This new company kept making locks until 1880.
Under the patents of Arthur E. Hotchkiss of Cheshire, Connecticut, Parker & Whipple was granted permission to produce novelty timepieces and alarm clocks in 1880. In that year, West Meriden saw the construction of a new clock factory. Almeron Lane, whose brother Frederick A. Lane served as supervisor of the Yale Clock Company in New Haven, Connecticut, which also produced A. E. Hotchkiss’ patent movements, managed the Parker & Whipple factory at this time.
Charles E. Parker, a Meriden resident born in 1809, invested in Parker & Whipple in 1879. With his involvement in the production of rifles, shotguns, locks, Britannia pottery, German silver, machine tools, sewing machines, printing presses, coffee grinders, waffle irons, wood screws, and many other related goods, Parker was one of the wealthiest persons in the area at the time. He acquired Parker & Whipple in 1893, renaming the business Parker Clock Company.
The Parker Clock Company kept making novelty clocks and alarms while also introducing a line of bigger drum-cased alarm clocks. In 1919, they added a 60 x 40 foot, two and a half story structure to their business. The company was reported to have shut its doors in the Meriden press on May 28, 1926, yet it reportedly reopened soon after. In 1934, the Parker Clock Company was eventually shut down.