Fountain Square Park Fountain, (sculpture).

Fountain Square Park Fountain, (sculpture).

Ott, Charles, sculptor.

Stout, John L., contractor.

Fountain Square Park Fountain, (sculpture).

1871. Installed April 1872. Dedicated May 1872. Relocated 1985.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: Bowling Green limestone; Base: Bowling Green limestone.

Sculpture: approx. 46 x 20 x 20 in.; Base: approx. 16 x 20 x 20 in.

Fountain shaft with carvings of four boys, each facing a different direction. One boy wears a toga and his left hand rests on his heart. To his right, the next boy wears a loin cloth and in his left hand carries a fish. Another fish in his right hand has been broken. To his right, the next boy in a loin cloth, has his hands in front of him holding a fish and possibly a loaf of bread or another fish. The boy on his left, also in a loin cloth, has lost both arms and a portion of his leg below the knee. To his right, there was once a tree, possibly a weeping willow tree, now knocked off. Above the boys' heads a small base for the bowl of the fountain is carved.

Outdoor Sculpture -- Kentucky -- Bowling Green

City of Bowling Green, Historic Riverview at Hobson Grove, 1100 West Main, Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101

Formerly in the collection of Hobson, Margaret, Walnut Lawn, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Formerly in the collection of Graham, Asher, Sr., Mr. & Mrs., Beech Bend Road, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Formerly located Fountain Square Park, Bowling Green, Kentucky until 1881.

The limestone shaft is the only remaining portion of a two-tiered fountain which originally stood in Fountain Square Park. The park was created in 1870, when the old red brick courthouse site was redesigned. As part of the redesign, a fountain was commissioned. Charles Ott was the stone mason. John L. Stout erected the fountain in April 1872 and the site was dedicated and renamed Fountain Park or Fountain Square Park in May of 1872. Around 1881, because of deterioration, the fountain was removed and replaced with a cast iron and zinc alloy fountain from J.L. Mott Iron Works (IAS record 73261385).

The original limestone fountain was reportedly disassembled, with portions discarded or sold at auction. The statuary was reportedly saved by Asher Graham, Sr. Margaret Hobson later purchased the statuary and moved the statuary to the grounds of Walnut Lawn. Around 1985, she donated it back to the city for placement at Riverview (her grandfather's estate), where it now resides. In the early 1800s, her great great uncle Jonathan Hobson, County Court Clerk, legislator and landowner, donated a $300.00 fountain, probably when the red brick courthouse was built ca. 1813-1819.

IAS files contain related newsclippings from Park City Daily News (Bowling Green, KY) Sept. 12, 1985, pg. 1, 3; Sept. 7, 1986, pg. 5A; and Sept. 18, 1988. IAS files also contain excerpt from Jonathan Jeffrey's "A Stroll Around Fountain Square," Bowling Green, KY: Landmark Association, 1992, pg. 1-4.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Kentucky survey, 1994.

Joyce, Elwin G., Mrs., 1988.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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