All photos in this chapter are © by Joe Konz
I opened the faucet and let the water run wild in this post, if you excuse the intentional pun.
The fountains have always been a fascinating allure for my visits to the Sunken Garden in Garfield Park, so I can relate to the Joni Mitchell song lyric "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone." Because for what seemed like an eternity, the fountains went dry and silent, the victim of sundry equipment malfunctions. And not just once.
The fountains made their debut in 1918, and at the time they were known as the largest group of display sprays in the U.S. But the fountains did not spread joy and delight without difficulty. They were known to go silent for several years in the late 1940s because of mechanical troubles, and again near the end of the previous century — and this is the extended period I remember — before being restored again in the late 1990s.
They came to a halt for another period in the 2000s before yet another summerlong repair in 2013, which led to colored lights being restored for optimum viewing after dark, at least for the small pockets of time that the Garden remained open at night.
Ending this post with the photo below, taken May 1, 2015, not long after a then-recent colored-lights restoration project in the Sunken Garden was completed.
Next up, Chapter 36A: Theater, Part 1
Previously in the Garfield Park in Pictures series:
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