By Susan Motander
After more than a year and half, repairs on the historic drinking fountain in Library Park are nearly done. Just for the record, the structure that was heavily damaged by an errant driver on August 6, 2013, is not, nor has it ever been, a wishing well. It has always been a drinking fountain since its installation in 1907 by the Framer’s Club of Monrovia. It was wrongly labeled a “Wishing Well” by a city spokesman at the time it was damaged, and the erroneous title has stuck.
The delays in having the drinking fountain’s structure repaired started with the city reaching a settlement with the insurance company of the car’s driver. The next step was repairing the granite. Bruce Goss of Sierra Madre did the granite work including the beading between the stones (the terra cotta coloring is historically accurate).
According to Jim Wigton, president of the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group, Tina Cherry and Tim Blackburn of the City’s Public Works Department have been instrumental in getting the work completed on the drinking fountain. He also credited several MOHPG members for their work on the structure, including Jimmy Hendrix and Alan Morse, who worked on the roof’s basic structure; Robb Stewart, who cut the “cloud” eave ends; and Mark Howard, who painted the roof.
Not all the original tiles were salvageable, but the city was able to acquire replacement tiles through Architectural Detail. The first set of tiles delivered were the wrong size (yet another delay), but the city was finally able to obtain the correct size. The drinking fountain was ready for that last step.
All this work brought the group to last weekend when MOHPG volunteers gathered to replace the tiles on the structure’s roof. With determination, some trial and error and a great deal of patience, the tiles were finally set in place. The DRINKING FOUNTAIN has been repaired.
