Old Ellicott City wasn’t in the 1985 box office smash “Back to the Future,” OK?

But the story of the historic Maryland town’s clock tower, which washed away twice in devastating floods in 2016 and 2018, isn’t so different from the one in the film, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said Tuesday in Tiber Park, flanked by a staffer dressed as Marty McFly and a rent-by-the-hour DeLorean time machine.

Just as the fictional town of Hill Valley rallied to save its clock that had been frozen at 10:04 p.m. by a lightning strike, so too are Howard County and Ellicott City officials rallying to “save the clock tower” that once stood on Main Street near the Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum.

Officials say they are making moves to replace the landmark by spring 2026 — and laying the “Back to the Future” references on thick to charm the nostalgic into donating money to the project. The Ellicott City Partnership, the nonprofit representing the historic district’s small businesses, is seeking $10,000 from the community while it pursues grant funding opportunities.

Partnership president Julia Sanger estimates a new timepiece could cost up to $30,000.

The original clock at Railroad Plaza was installed in 2001 by the Kiwanis to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Howard County, The Baltimore Sun reported. A flood destroyed the clock in 2016, leading to its replacement the following year.

In 2018, the landmark that represented the town’s resilience was wiped out again. Mark Hemmis, owner of the Phoenix Upper Main, still tears up when he describes watching it happen from a balcony about 20 yards away.

“What I really see is a community that’s reinventing themselves,” he said of the recovery that followed.

In the film “Back to the Future,” teenager Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, flees danger by driving a time-traveling DeLorean to the year 1955 and must find a way to return to the future. No spoilers, but the clock tower factors into the plot of the film and its two sequels. The town square and clock tower are now featured on the Universal Studios Hollywood tour.

Ellicott City’s fundraising ploy “is one of those leaps in weird consciousness,” Sanger said.

It all came together about two weeks ago, after the Partnership got the green light to replace the clock and Sanger realized that “Back to the Future Day” falls on Oct. 21. The date’s significance is explained in “Back to the Future Part II.”

“This is so goofy, I love it,” Sanger said Tuesday as she stepped to the lectern to launch the initiative. “I’m geeking out beyond belief.”

The strategy, for at least the afternoon, seemed to be working. A boy spotted the DeLorean and asked his mom if they could linger for a moment to listen to news about the clock.

“It’s about damn time,” one man said to Sanger.

Kristen Jones and Rob Hinkal had just finished up their anniversary lunch and were curious about the 20th century time machine in Tiber Park. The Catonsville couple said they had just been thinking about Ellicott City’s clock after hearing it mentioned in a song, “The Valley Is Ours,” recorded by their friend Heather Aubrey Lloyd.

The partnership’s goal is bigger than just replacing the clock, Sanger said. “It’s to bring back a symbol of community, of history and of time well spent here in town.”

“But,” Sanger added, “it’s going to take a community to make it happen.”