During construction, the clocktower was bombed by anarchist Ortie McManigle, the same culprit as the Los Angeles Times bombing. However, the thick walls were not disturbed by the truck bomb, and it was completed in 1913. Former Mayor John A. Denison and President William Howard Taft officiated the opening ceremonies. On December 8, 1913, as Taft dedicated the Springfield Municipal Group as "one of the most distinctive civic centers in the United States, and indeed the world."