In the center of downtown Cincinnati is Fountain Square and the Tyler Davidson Fountain.
If there is a symbol of Cincinnati, an image that is most typically used in photo shoots of the city, it would have to be the Tyler Davidson Fountain. Located on Fountain Square–of course–it is in the center of town. It’s the place where locals congregate to celebrate the Cincinnati Reds or Bengals going to the playoffs and where politicians make speeches and protests take place. I remember going there to show support for the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center and also to ice skate in the wintertime as a kid.
And when I drove downtown last week for the first time in many, many years, the fountain was gone.
“Where’s the fountain?” I asked my parents as I turned the car onto Fifth Street. While I had been downtown since I moved from Cincinnati, I had not driven past it. And just then, I was kind of pissed off that the fountain was not there.
“They moved it during a renovation,” said Dad. “It’s still there.”
I was relieved. And it felt good to go onto the square and see the fountain I grew up with, even if it was in a slightly different location. Actually, the new location works. It puts the fountain in the middle of the square and makes it so people can easily move around it.
So what’s the history of this Cincinnati symbol? The Tyler Davidson Fountain was dedicated in 1871. The 43-foot tall (13m) fountain is made of bronze and granite. To recognize the importance of the Ohio River in the founding of the city, the theme of the fountain is water. Streams of water flow from the hands of the 9-foot tall “Genius of Water” at the top of the fountain. And apparently, the statues below her represent water’s practical uses and on the base, four children represent the pleasures of water.
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