''Depew Memorial Fountain'' is a freestanding fountain completed in 1919 and located in University Park in downtown

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, within the

Indiana World War Memorial Plaza The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza is an urban feature and war memorial located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, originally built to honor the veterans of World War I. and (PDF) It was conceived in 1919 as a location for the na ...

Description

The fountain is composed of multiple

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

figures arranged on a five-tier Stony Creek pink

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

base with three basins. The bronze sculptures depict fish, eight children dancing, and a woman on the topmost tier dancing and playing cymbals. The overall dimensions are approximately 25 x 45 x . A memorial plaque is located on south side of the large granite basin. It reads:

Artists

Alexander Stirling Calder Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculpture, sculptor and teacher. He was the son of sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and the father of sculptor Alexander Calder, Alexander (Sandy) Calder. His best-kn ...

(1870–1945, American) *

Karl Bitter Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work. Life and career The son of Carl and Henrietta Bitter, he was ...

(1867–1915, Austrian/American) *

Henry Bacon Henry Bacon (November 28, 1866February 16, 1924) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who is best remembered for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (built 1915–1922), which was his final project. Education and early career Henr ...

(1866–1924, American)

History

University Park was redesigned in 1914 by

George Edward Kessler George Edward Kessler (July 16, 1862 – March 20, 1923) was an American pioneer city planner and landscape architect. Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 com ...

for the park and boulevard system he had developed for the city of Indianapolis. Depew Fountain was an original component of the plan and was designed by the sculptor

in the same year. The ''Depew Memorial Fountain'' was commissioned in memory of Dr. Richard J. Depew by his wife, Emma Ely, following Dr. Depew's death in 1887. When Mrs. Depew died in 1913, she had bequeathed $50,000 from her estate to the city of Indianapolis for the erection of a fountain in memory of her husband "in some park or public place where all classes of people may enjoy it." An information plaque, located on the north side of the fountain, reads: In 1926 young women from the

Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was a naturalized American dancer, company director, and choreographer. Early life Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was th ...

ballet performed an interpretive dance around the fountain, mimicking the bronze sculptures thereon, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fountain.

References

{{Monuments in Indianapolis Tourist attractions in Indianapolis Outdoor sculptures in Indianapolis Monuments and memorials in Indiana Fountains in Indiana 1919 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Indiana Sculptures by Karl Bitter Sculptures by Alexander Stirling Calder Statues in Indianapolis 1919 establishments in Indiana Sculptures of women in Indiana Dance in art Fish in art