Drumheller Fountain - University of Washington - Seattle, WA
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 39.213 W 122° 18.463
10T E 551985 N 5278027
Drumheller Fountain was originally the centerpiece of the Olmstead Brothers landscape plan for the Alakan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909.
Waymark Code: WM1633
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 01/27/2007
Views: 177
Drumheller Fountain was originally the centerpiece of the Olmstead Brothers' landscape plan for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. It was called Geyser Basin at the time and it had a long cascade of water that flowed down the hill into it.
The Basin became known as Frosh Pond in the early 1900's after the numerous freshman students who were thrown into it. To this day the name has stuck.
In 1961 University Regent Joseph Drumheller, gifted a center fountain for the pond for the University's centennial celebration in 1961. The fountain has built-in lighting and three banks of jets. The center jet can shoot water to a height of 100 feet, while the two surrounding rings of jets gush water slightly outward from 10 to 30 feet.
While a student at the University of Washington, I had to walk past the fountain daily as it was en route to my studio in Architecture Hall. The fountain was only occasionally turned on at that time and the result was stagnant water filled with goose waste. The organization of the buildings around the pond created a wind corridor and when the fountain was turned on the breeze would coat you with a stinking mist of foul (and fowl)water. Supposedly an overhaul of the fountain several years ago has solved this problem.
Although it no longer has the beautiful Cascades, it still has a view of them - the real Cascades, that is. The view of Mt. Rainier was preserved and it is an awe inspiring thing to step out of the University's Red Square on a beautiful day and look down the corridor surrounded by ivy covered buildings, the pond surrounded by rose gardens and the majestic mountain beyond.
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