The James Scott Memorial Fountain is a monument located in

Belle Isle Park Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada border ...

, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Designed by architect

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...

and sculptor Herbert Adams, the fountain was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000. The lower bowl has a diameter of and the central spray reaches . The fountain honors the controversial James Scott, who left $200,000 to the City of Detroit for a fountain in tribute to himself.

History

Scott was left a sizable fortune by his father who invested in Detroit

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

.Austin, Dan. According to contemporaries, Scott gambled and told

off-color Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult c ...

stories. He was described by twentieth-century author W. Hawkins Ferry as a " vindictive,

scurrilous ''Scurrilous'' is the third studio album by Canadian progressive metal band Protest the Hero. It was released on March 22, 2011. The word ''scurrilous'' is defined as "vulgar verbal abuse; foul-mouthed; coarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous." ...

misanthrope Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ ...

" P. 44. who attempted to intimidate his business competitors and when this was unsuccessful, he filed suit. Perhaps for these reasons, Scott died in 1910 with no heirs or colleagues and he

bequeathed A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the ...

his estate to the City of Detroit with the condition that the fountain include a life-sized

bronze statue Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements t ...

of him. P. 78. Some accounts state that the

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

required that the statue be at the fountain's pinnacle. Several community and religious leaders—including Bishop Charles D. Williams—spoke against accepting the bequest, saying that a person with Scott's reputation should not be immortalized in the city. Mayor

Philip Breitmeyer Philip Breitmeyer (May 13, 1864 – November 8, 1941) was a florist, one of the founders of Florists' Telegraph Delivery (now Florists' Transworld Delivery, or FTD), and the mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Biography Philip Breitmeyer was born in ...

and City Council President David Heineman urged accepting the gift, saying that the city shouldn't insult any of its citizens by refusing such a generous offer. While the debate raged, Scott's fortune continued to grow, topping $1 million by the time construction commenced. Since 2018, the

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INDYCAR race has used the Fountain as its podium backdrop. Drivers are known to dip into the fountain after a race win.

Design

The monument is located in

, in

. Designed by architect

and sculptor Herbert Adams, the

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

fountain was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000. The lower bowl has a diameter of and the central spray reaches . The final design placed Scott's statue in inconspicuous spot behind the fountain.

Movie appearances

A famous scene from the 1973 drama ''

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...

'', starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino was filmed here. In the scene shortly after learning of the death of his estranged son (though falsified by the mother), Pacino's character Francis Lionel 'Lion' Delbuchi, happily plays with a group of children before, upon uncovering a deep emotional truth, he snatches one of them up and begins to ascend the fountain. He is left catatonic in a hospital following the incident. The fountain is also featured briefly in Anthony Mann's 1947 film noir ''

T-Men ''T-Men'' is a 1947 semidocumentary and police procedural style film noir about United States Treasury agents. The film was directed by Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade ...

'', photographed by John Alton. Early in the film, two Treasury Agents preparing to go undercover discuss Detroit criminal gangs and gang activities while standing in front of the fountain.

Gallery

File:The James Scott Memorial Fountain, Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mich (68300).jpg, Old postcard File:JSMFLIONDETAIL.jpg, Detail of one of fountain's lion figures File:JSMFLOWERBASINPOOL.jpg, Detail of one of the eight small pools in the lower basin File:JSMFLOWERBASIN.jpg, The lower basin File:JSMFDETROITINDUSTRYDETAIL.jpg, 16 separate reliefs depict life in the early days of Detroit File:Belle Isle casino and fountain - Detroit Michigan.jpg, The Belle Isle Casino is in the background of a dry James Scott Memorial Fountain

References

External links