Friday, May 16, 2014

When the Lakeview Park Fountain was New – May 1936

Late 1930s view
Everything is new at some point, including Lorain's landmarks. The article above, which appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal and Times-Herald on May 16, 1936 – 78 years ago today – announces the upcoming unveiling of the iconic Lakeview Park fountain on Memorial Day, May 30th.

The short article points out that the fountain would provide 60 changes of water design and color effects every six minutes while in operation. It also notes that the fountain was a federal aid project, built with sandstone from the Amherst quarries.

The fountain – like the park's Easter Basket – looms larges in the collective memories of Lorain's citizens. I remember many times my parents would pull into Lakeview Park and er, uh park, so that my siblings and I – sometimes in our pajamas – could watch the fountain change colors.

Also like the Easter Basket, the fountain has been the subject of many postcards over the years.




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4 comments:

  1. Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in the Great State of OhioMay 16, 2014 at 11:31 AM

    Thank you for posting the news story about the fountain at Lakeview Park. I have a wonderful photograph of my mother and her sister, Irene sitting on the steps at Lakeview Park in front of the fountain. It could be from the late 1930s or early 1940s, so I now know that it wasn't before the date in the newspaper. The story helps me to date my photograph. Thank you. Lakeview Park contains such special landmarks doesn't it. I miss the part of the old bath house building that had "Lorain" over the doorway. I wish that they could have saved that part of the building.

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  2. -Alan D HopewellMay 16, 2014 at 2:13 PM

    I have so many memories centering on the fountain, from good times over the years, to going to hide there in the dark the day Dr. King was assassinated....

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  3. Paul helfrichJanuary 4, 2017 at 1:21 PM

    I remember there used to be a man selling balloons across the street from the Easter basket on week ends. I'm 71 and have lots of memories but lake view park is near the top. In those days we didn't define east or west beach but we always went to the left of the bath house.l have lived hundreds of miles away for 50 years. But a big piece of my heart is still playing in the water on a hot Sunday afternoon

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  4. BoilerplantJune 16, 2023 at 2:12 AM

    Interesting to see that overhead picture will all the small trees. Really how many years after the tornado did the city replace them especially during the depression. The fountain was a WPA project but I wonder how much of the sidewalks and trees were part of the project. Now the trees are so big people will think they have been there forever.

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