Lafayette Fountain is an 1887 fountain by sculptor Lorado Taft, in the grounds of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse in Lafayette, Indiana. The fountain is composed of a number of tiered bowls with a marble statue of the Marquis de LaFayette on top. He holds a sword next to his heart in his right hand and has a cape draped over his left arm.
History
Taft wrote about this early commission (perhaps his first) of his that:
"The LaFayette" was about the first order I had in Chicago as I arrived there with high hopes – and little else – the first day of 1886. It was a copy of Bartholdi's "LaFayette" in New York City that was required of me and one tiny photograph of that figure was all that was given to me for data. I wonder at the temerity of youth, but I had to have the money and that supplies unlimited courage.[1]
The fountain cost $2,200.
figure
The Inscription reads: (On eight panels on pedestal, raised letters:)
(panel 1:) In HONOR OF GENERAL MARIE JEAN PAUL ROCH YVES GILBERT MOTIER DE LAFAYETTE BORN IN AUVERGNE FRANCE 1757 FOUGHT WITH WASHINGTON FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 1776 TO 1782 DIED 1834
(panel 2:) ARTESIAN WELL CONSTRUCTED BY TIPPECANOE COUNTY COMMENCED APRIL 22, 1857 COMPLETED FEBRUARY 18, 1858 DEPTH 230 FEET.
(panel 3:) IN MEMORY OF JOHN PURDUE WHOSE MUNIFICENCE GAVE NAME TO PURDUE UNIVERSITY BORN 1801 DIED 1876.
(panel 4:) IN HONOR OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF THE COUNTY AND CITY.
(panel 5:) TIPPECANOE COUNTY COURTHOUSES FIRST ERECTED 1829 SECOND ERECTED 1845. THIRD ERECTED 1881.
(panel 6:) IN MEMORY OF THE GALLANT SOLDIERS OF TIPPECANOE COUNTY WHO FOUGHT FOR THE UNION.
(panel 7:) IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM DIGBY FOUNDER OF THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE MAY 27, 1825. BORN 1802 DIED 1864.
(panel 8:) ERECTED BY THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE 1887.[2]
Water for the fountain was originally supplied by a 230-foot well beneath it, which was installed in 1857 and whose waters were believed to have curative properties. The well was capped in 1936, and the fountain's water now comes from elsewhere.[3]
Sources
↑ WPA Writers Program, Indiana: A Guide to the Hoosier State, Oxford University Press, NY, 1961, p.464-465
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