Demolition should begin on the creaky remains of the Champaign County Courthouse's lightning-damaged clock tower.

That's the day the bell will come down, said Steve Beckett, the Urbana Democrat who heads the county board's facilities committee.

The tower has been hurting for a long time. Lightning strikes in 1930, 1956 and 1973, along with normal weather damage, cost the tower 50 feet, as well as its balcony, a belfry and gargoyles.

But the current project will restore the tower to its original 130 feet, tall enough to be seen from Interstate 74.

An 1883 clock will be reinstalled, and a local donor, Jack Richmond, is paying for four 21st-century gargoyles.

The $5.7 million project includes a new steel superstructure that will support the entire courthouse, Beckett said. A "Texas red" sandstone will match the medieval look of the building.

A citizens group is working to raise $1.2 million to restore the clock and bell tower to its original appearance. The group has raised $900,000, an organizer, Bruce Hannon, said.

The Carbondale firm of White & Borgognoni Architects was main consultant on the project. Roessler Construction of Rantoul is doing the heavy lifting.

Beckett said the tower will be torn down brick by brick, slowing the work and contributing to its August 2009 finish date, missing the original February date to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.

"You could dynamite or take a wrecking ball to the tower, but good sandstone is preserved by taking it down in sections, so we can save as much of the original materials as possible," he said.

He said construction crews would tear the tower down to the ground, take a close look at the foundation and footing, then erect the steel superstructure.