In 1919 Littlefield contacted San Antonio-based Italian-born sculptor Pompeo Coppini, requesting a design that would include images of notable figures from the history of Texas and the American South,[2] and proposing to fund the project with a donation of $200,000 (equivalent to $4,000,000 in 2023).

On April 15, 1920, Coppini presented university officials with a new, cheaper design that eliminated the arch and expanded the fountain pool to hold a large allegorical sculpture.

[3] Construction of the fountain was begun in the fall of 1932, with its plan somewhat altered by campus architect Paul Philippe Cret and the six statues relocated to the adjoining South Mall.

In 2004 university President Larry Faulkner wrote a letter recommending that the six Coppini statues be moved up to the edges of the fountain and supplemented by a plaque that would explain the symbolism intended by the artist and provide historical context for the figures, but no such steps were taken during his tenure.

[8][9] In July 2016 the university removed the stone panels bearing the dedication inscription from the fountain complex and stored them, possibly for future display at the Briscoe Center.

One is inscribed "THESE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WAR," followed by two columns of names listing all UT students and alumni killed in the Great War; the other reads "BREVIS A NATVRA NOBIS VITA DATA EST AT MEMORIA BENE REDDITAE VITAE SEMPITERNA" (Latin: "A short life hath been given by Nature unto man; but the remembrance of a life laid down in a good cause endureth forever").

In 1930 the university's campus architect, Paul Philippe Cret, decided that the six bronze statues Coppini had meant to surround the fountain would instead be installed at various points along the South Mall, asserting that the figures would appear too crowded in the small space around the memorial.