GITHAA-INI: The Man, The Clock and the Baking of Thika's History

By Jaymo Wa Thika,

At the bustling roundabout where Kwame Nkrumah Street meets Commercial Street, stands a solitary stone clock tower, that rises above the hum of Thika town..... Its four faces silently watching over the daily rhythm of Thika town. Locals call it “Githaa-ini”.

Beside it lies the tranquil Christina Wangari Garden, where locals chat under the shade and lovers take quiet afternoon walks. The clock tower remains one of Thika's most recognisable landmarks. Locals pass by the tower daily, some glancing at the clock face, many unaware of its historical weight or the man whose name it carries: “WALTER COX”.

Who was Walter Cox?

Though now largely forgotten, Walter Cox was once a central figure in Thika's colonial rise. He was a British settler and industrious entrepreneur who is remembered for establishing Cox’s Bakery, one of the first commercial bakeries in Central Kenya. 

Located somewhere between the site that now is occupied by Family Bank and Thika Arcade, along what is today Commercial Street, Cox’s bakery fed the town’s growing population and became a vital supplier of baked goods to colonial institutions as far as Nairobi.

Cox’s Bakery

Walter Cox arrived in Thika during the early 1900s, part of the wave of white settlers who moved into Kenya's fertile Central Highlands after the British government opened the region to European settlement in 1902.

Rather than focusing on farming, Cox established one of Thika’s earliest industrial enterprises: Cox’s Bakery.

The bakery supplied bread and baked goods to a growing settler population, African workers and government institutions. At a time when infrastructure was still developing, Cox’s Bakery became a lifeline in Thika’s colonial economy, distributing baked goods across Central Province and into Nairobi.

Commercial Street itself became a colonial hub, lined with hardware shops, grocers, administrative offices and supply stores. Cox’s presence was part of a wider settler network that transformed Thika from a railway outpost into a structured urban centre.

These structures formed the backbone of Commercial Street, which, to this day, retains a colonial aura in its old stone buildings and narrow shopfronts.

His Contribution to Thika

Walter Cox is credited with:

• Establishing one of the earliest bakeries in Thika, commonly referred to as Cox’s Bakery, which supplied bread and baked goods across Central Province and Nairobi.

• Playing a pioneer role in industrial Thika, alongside other settlers who laid the groundwork for the town’s transformation into a key commercial and agricultural hub.

• His ventures are said to have employed many Africans and supported other colonial infrastructures like schools, workshops, and administrative offices.

• He is associated with donating or supporting civic structures, including the clock tower, which is either named after him or donated in his memory.

The Walter Cox Clock Tower

In an era before mobile phones or digital billboards, a public clock was a symbol of modernity, structure and order — the colonial virtues that settlers held dear.

As Thika expanded, so did the need for public order and civic symbols. In the 1950s, either during his later years or shortly after his death, a clock tower was erected in his memory, or possibly sponsored by him at the strategic junction of Kwame Nkrumah Street and Commercial Street.

The Walter Cox Clock Tower, often simply called “Githaa-ini” by locals (a Kikuyu word meaning “the clock”), quickly became more than just a timekeeper. It became Thika’s most iconic point of reference, a compass for residents and visitors alike.

Was Walter Cox buried at the site?

There is no documented evidence that Walter Cox is buried at the clock tower. The Walter Cox Clock Tower is not a burial site, but a monument. No records suggest that Cox was buried there. 

Like most colonial settlers, he was likely interred (buried) in designated European cemeteries in Nairobi or possibly back in Britain.

The surrounding Christina Wangari Garden (once the Thika Municipal Garden) is itself a nod to legacy and renamed after a Kenyan heroine of the multi-party democracy era. 

The contrast is striking: A colonial clock beside a post-independence memorial garden, telling of a town that has layered histories etched into its spaces.

Though the physical Cox’s Bakery is long gone and replaced by modern shops and banks, Walter Cox’s imprint remains. He represents a generation of settlers who shaped the urban identity of Thika, often for their own benefit, but in ways that endure, through buildings, street grids and stories passed down from one generation to the next.

As Thika grows into a modern business and industrial city, and an academic hub, perhaps it's time to revisit these quiet markers of history, not to romanticise colonialism, but to understand how a small town became a regional powerhouse, tick by tick, loaf by loaf.

Still Giving Directions in the 21st Century

Do you pass by the Walter Cox Clock Tower often? You might just be walking through the legacy of a man who baked history into Thika’s very foundation.

Whether you are a first-time visitor to Thika or a longtime resident, Githaa-ini remains the town’s universal landmark. From here, you can find your way to hospitals, courts, markets, banks or simply sit in the garden and watch Thika flow around you.

The clock not only keeps perfect time, but it still keeps the town together.