Union Square Park Drinking Fountain

In the 1840s, New York City’s first public water system began service. Built on the backs of thousands of Irish immigrant laborers between 1837 and 1842, the Croton Aqueduct provided the city’s residents with a steady supply of clean, healthy drinking water. Before, residents of America’s largest urban center obtained their drinking water from wells fed by underground streams, cisterns and wooden barrels that collected rainwater, and natural springs and ponds. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, philanthropists and social reformers capitalized on the water system by erecting countless outdoor, decorative drinking fountains throughout the city to promote public health, an appreciation for the fine arts, charity, and temperance. 

Sometime before 1877, prosperous businessmen and philanthropists Daniel Willis James and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (the father of future President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt) conceived of the idea of a decorative drinking fountain in Union Square Park. The two men contacted James Leonard Corning, who at the time was completing his medical degree in Germany, and solicited his thoughts on selecting the proper sculptor for the project. After marinating on Corning’s advice, James and Roosevelt commissioned German sculptor Karl Adolph Donndorf to design the fountain in 1877. Using his own family members as models, Donndorf, who at the time was a professor at the Stuttgart Academy of Art, commenced work immediately.

The project, however, suffered a number of setbacks, which caused it to drag on for four years. When the time came for Donndorf to begin sculpting the infant, the real-life infant model had outgrown his role, compelling the artist to find a replacement. Then, when the clay model was on its way from Donndorf’s studio to the foundry in Braunschweig, an armature broke and required a repair. Later, when the fountain was already cast, a hard frost at the foundry caused it to shatter. Finally, in 1881, the sculpture was recast without any problems and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. 

The fountain was dedicated in Union Square Park on October 25, 1881 during an elaborate, well-attended public ceremony. In attendance at the unveiling, in addition to James and Corning (Roosevelt died in 1878), were the mayor of New York City, William R. Grace, and commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Smith E. Lane. The bronze fountain features a mother clad in classical attire holding an infant on her hip with her right arm and a water pitcher (or ewer) in her left hand. At her side, a young boy looks up at her and reaches for her left arm. Below the over-life-sized figural group, four lion heads once spouted water into four small basins. Today, the basins function as planters. Reliefs of butterflies, dragonflies, birds, and salamanders decorate the space around the lion heads. At the time of the fountain’s dedication, metal cups dangled from a chain attached to the fountain, serving as convenient drinking vessels for passersby looking to quench their thirst. The fountain, located in an alcove on the western side of the park between 15th and 16th Streets, sits on an elaborate stepped granite pedestal made of pink Swedish granite. 

Pommer, Alfred and Joyce Pommer. Exploring Gramercy Park and Union Square. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2015.

"Union Square Drinking Fountain." New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The City of New York. Web. 13 January 2021 <https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/union-square-park/monuments/797>.

"Union Square Drinking Fountain, (sculpture)." Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Smithsonian American Art Museum. Web. 13 January 2021 <https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!302743~!0#focus>.