History of fountains in the United States

In the 20th century, American fountains ceased to distribute drinking water; they became purely decorative, and were designed to honor events or individuals, as works of urban sculpture or to imitate nature.

A notable, albeit widely unknown exception (even locally) is the Tyler Davidson Fountain in the city centre of Cincinnati, which has never ceased maintenance of its filtration and treatment accessories that are housed in the four waterspout figures on the structures perimeter.

Sculptor William Rush carved a wooden statue, Allegory of the Schuylkill River (better known as Water Nymph with Bittern), to adorn the Centre Square fountain, subsequently depicted in a genre painting by John Lewis Krimmel.

[3] The first monumental fountains in the United States were built to mark the termini of aqueducts bringing fresh drinking water into New York City.

The ode began: "My name is Water: I have sped through strange dark ways untried before, By pure desire of friendship led, Cochituate's Ambassador: He sends four gifts by me, Long life, health, peace, and purity.

The sculptor was a little-known American artist, Emma Stebbins, whose brother was the head of the New York Stock Exchange and President of the Board of Commissioners, who lobbied on her behalf.

Her fountain was based on the biblical verse from the Gospel of Saint John, in which an angel touched, or "troubled", the waters of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, giving it healing powers.

She wrote about the fountain: "We have no less healing, comfort and purification freely sent to us through the blessed gift of pure, wholesome water, which to all the countless homes of this great city comes like an angel visitant.

The modernist French-Canadian Armand Vaillancourt built his monumental fountain at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco in a cubist style, though it was intended as a political statement - the official title is "Quebec Libre!