Pope Fountain, (sculpture).

Pope Fountain, (sculpture).

Keller, George W., 1842-1935, sculptor.

Lawrie, Lee Oskar, 1877-1963, sculptor.

Pope Fountain, (sculpture).

1913. Relocated 1964.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: Westerly granite and bronze; Base: stone.

Sculpture: approx. 16 x 6 x 6 ft.; Base: approx. 1 ft. x 11 ft. 6 in. x 6 ft.

(Below bronze bas-relief portrait of Pope, incised:) TO COMMEMORATE/THE INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES/AND PUBLIC BENEFACTIONS/FROM 1880 TO 1905/OF/ALBERT A. POPE/ALL OF WHICH GREATLY ADVANCED/THE PROSPERITY OF HARTFORD (Rear of shaft:) ERECTED BY FRIENDS/MCMXIII unsigned

A granite fountain comprised of a stone column with bronze bas-relief profile bust of Albert A. Pope. The column is topped by a sphere supported by dolphins. The sphere, edged by a relief of ball bearings, is symbolic of the ball bearing device that was the foundation of Pope's success in bicycle manufacturing. At the base of the column, is a four foot high watering trough for animals. In the rear, there is a drinking fountain for people in the form of a small dolphin spouting water into a carved granite basin. The column is also decorated with lion's that originally spouted water into a basin below portrait bust. On the rear, there is a dolphin and frog, symbolizing the "Frog Hollow" neighborhood.

Portrait male -- Pope, Albert A. -- Head

Portrait male -- Pope, Albert A. -- Profile

Occupation -- Other -- Businessman

Animal -- Dolphin

Animal -- Amphibian -- Frog

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Hartford

Administered by City of Hartford, Parks and Recreation Department, 25 Stonington Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Located Pope Park, West of Pope Park Drive, Hartford, Connecticut

The fountain honors Albert A. Pope, a leading Hartford citizen who owned the Weed Sewing Machine Company, which manufactured his Columbia bicycles, and later the Pope Manufacturing Company, which produced the Pope-Hartford automobile. The fountain was originally installed at the Park entrance, Capitol Avenue at Park Terrace; in 1964 because of highway construction, it was relocated to its current site. The total cost of $4,913 for the memorial, not including the plumbing charges, was paid for by the Hartford Board of Trade. George Keller designed the fountain; Lee Lawrie designed the portrait bust. IAS files contain related article from The Hartford Courant, June 25, 1964, pg. 35 and an excerpt from David F. Ransom's "George Keller, Architect," Hartford: Stowe-Day Foundation, 1978, pg. 167. For related article see: Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin 54 (Winter/Spring 1989): pg. 64-65.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, CT0023, 1989.

Monumental News, April 1913, pg. 268.

Inventory staff, 2001.

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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