The Sperry Fountain: The Fountain That Elected a Mayor

The funds to purchase the Sperry Fountain and the surrounding land were a donation to the City of Orlando by Ezra Frank Sperry in 1913 as part of a campaign to create a city park and beautify Lake Eola. Mr. Sperry was elected Mayor of Orlando the following year. The fountain, known by some as Lake Eola’s “other fountain,” was replaced by a replica in 2014 and the original moved to Greenwood Cemetery.  

Lacking any children to carry on his legacy, Mr. Ezra Frank Sperry, an Orlando pioneer, made the grand gesture of donating land and funds to the City of Orlando in 1913 to create a public park at Lake Eola. Mr. Sperry’s park, which he initially hoped would be named for him, was to have a beautiful fountain as its centerpiece.¹ Though the public was not in favor of changing the park’s name from Lake Eola, and Sperry himself later denied even making the suggestion, the city gladly accepted his donation.² Sperry’s generosity so endeared him to the public that he was persuaded to run for Mayor only a few months after announcing his civic beautification endeavor.³  

Mayor Sperry was the co-founder and owner of the South Florida Foundry and Machine Works, which makes the wrought iron fountain that bears his name, a fitting tribute to his legacy.⁴ The fountain features a “large acanthus leaf with a duck base surmounted by a bittern set in an octagonal masonry basin with eight vases.”⁵ The Sperry Fountain was considered to be the first public art piece in the City of Orlando.⁶ Mayor Sperry was extremely protective of his park project, calling in 1914 for punishment for those who were breaking up the cement of the fountain basin and annoying the swans during the installation.⁷ 

Though he was able to see his vision for Lake Eola Park brought to life, Mayor Sperry died in office after only two years in 1916.⁸ According to The Morning Sentinel, Mayor Sperry’s widow, Mary, received a paycheck for services her husband could not render due to his death at the age of 73.⁹ She returned the money to the City Council who then decided that it would be used to purchase a memorial tablet for the late Mayor Sperry.¹⁰ This tablet was not installed, however, until the 1960s.¹¹ The Sperry Fountain remained the only fountain at Lake Eola Park until 1957 when the Centennial Fountain (later renamed the Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain) was installed.¹² From this point forward, the Sperry Fountain became known as Lake Eola’s “other fountain.”  

After years of concerns for the preservation of the Sperry Fountain, it was decided that the rusting wrought-iron fountain would be recast in bronze and the replica was kept on display in its usual spot in the southeast corner of Lake Eola Park. The original was installed at Greenwood Cemetery in 2017, with the swan topper facing the man who was instrumental in the fountain’s creation, Mayor Ezra Frank Sperry.¹³ Thus, Mayor Sperry and his namesake fountain are linked in death as they were in life. 

1. “E. F. Sperry Makes Generous Offer for Park,” The Daily Reporter-Star, July 1, 1913, 1. 

2. “Sperry Talks on Park Plans,” The Daily Reporter-Star, September 16, 1913, 1.

3. “Sperry Yields and Enters Contest,” The Daily Sentinel, September 24, 1913, 1.

4. Eve Bacon, Orlando: A Centennial History (Chuluota: Mickler House Publishers, 1975), I: 155.

5. Bacon, Orlando: A Centennial History, I: 261.

6. “Sidelights,” The Daily Sentinel, February 20, 1914, 4.

7. “Mayor Orders Dogs Shot and Vandals Arrested,” The Morning Sentinel, February 8, 1914, 1. 

8. Bacon, Orlando: A Centennial History, I: 283. 

9. “Memorial Tablet for Mayor E. F. Sperry to be Placed at Eola Park,” The Morning Sentinel, September 7, 1916, 1.

10. “Memorial Tablet,” The Morning Sentinel. 

11. Bacon, Orlando: A Centennial History, I: 283.

12. Eve Bacon, Orlando: A Centennial History (Chuluota: Mickler House Publishers, 1977), II: 212-3. 

13. “The Original Sperry Fountain from Lake Eola Park…” City of Orlando - Government, March 8, 2017, https://fb.watch/lLWD_h2DNd/