"[6] The fountain was intended to be "beautiful in design and excellent in workmanship ... an ornament to San Francisco and a monument to the memory of Mervyn's father, Peter Donahue.

"[7] I direct my executors, hereinafter named, to cause to be erected at the intersection of Market, Bush and Battery streets, in San Francisco, opposite First street, for the City, a public fountain dedicated to mechanics in memory of my father, at a cost of the sum of $25,000.Mervyn Donahue's widow sued to block the bequest in June 1896, arguing the bequest was "a charity" and objecting to the amount earmarked for a fountain, while the executors of the will successfully argued the heirs had already been paid sums far larger than the fountain bequest.

[10] An earlier suit was decided in favor of the executors,[11] who had already announced an imminent public competition for the fountain's design.

"[8] Tilden was commissioned almost immediately on the basis of his prior work for Phelan, the Admission Day Monument.

Phelan made a brief speech accepting the statue, which was then unveiled by Irving M. Scott, manager of the Union Iron Works.