Root Park Fountain, (sculpture).

Root Park Fountain, (sculpture).

Unknown, sculptor.

Barber Wire and Iron Works, founder.

Root Park Fountain, (sculpture).

Putti, (sculpture).

Dedicated 1902.

Fountain: cast iron, painted black; Figure: zinc.

Approx. H. 86 in. x W. 5 1/2 ft.

A two-tiered cast iron fountain with round basins topped by a figure of a cherub or putti. The lower stem of the fountain features reliefs depicting fish. The fountain is installed in a small triangular park, and is surrounded by three granite benches.

Religion -- Angel

Homage -- Root, Lee

Homage -- Root, Byrd Miller

Outdoor Sculpture -- Michigan -- Muskegon

Administered by City of Muskegon, Department of Leisure, Muskegon, Michigan 49440

Located Root Memorial Park, Apple, First & Muskegon Avenues, Muskegon, Michigan

The park and the fountain were a gift to the City of Muskegon from Mrs. Thomas Miller (Annie Galbraith Miller) in memory of her daughter and son-in-law, Byrd Miller and Russell Lee Root, after their untimely death in an accident in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The fountain was installed in 1902 in a park in front of the Miller family home on Muskegon Avenue in downtown Muskegon. The Miller family owned a prominent iron works business in Muskegon. The fountain was moved in 1955 when the streets surrounding the triangular park were widened. The badly rusted cherub was replaced and the fountain bowls were restored. The cherub may be a figure from the Kearny Park Fountain in Muskegon. The inscription on the granite bench on the north side of the fountain reads: ROOT MEMORIAL PARK. The inscription on a plaque in the ground on the east side of the fountain reads: ROOT PARK/GIVEN TO THE CITY/OF MUSKEGON APRIL, 1902/BY ANN MILLER/IN MEMORY OF HER DAUGHTER/BYRD MILLER ROOT. IAS files contain a related article from the Chronicle (Muskegon, MI), Jan. 2, 1983.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Michigan survey, 1993.

SOS Assessment Award, 2000.

Chronicle (Muskegon, MI), Jan. 2, 1983, pg. 3B.

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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