Memorial Fountain - Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
N 45° 02.569 W 079° 18.843
17T E 632779 N 4989089
This fountain is located in Memorial Park on Manitoba Road in Bracebridge, Ontario.
Waymark Code: WM6TX3
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 07/20/2009
Views: 6
Text from the plaque 1;
Memorial Fountain
This ornate iron fountain has been returned to Memorial Park as part of the 125th anniversary of the establishment of Bracebridge as a municipality.
In June 1900, G.H.O. Thomas, principal at Bracebridge Public School, organized an outdoor children's concert at the school raising $300 to beautify the Park. The drills, marches, songs, and tableaux delighted the large audience.
The Town established the Park in June 1900 as a Memorial to Fred Wasdell and James Findlay who had been killed at Paardeberg, South Africa in the Boer War. Property was purchased and added to the market lots, which the Town already owned. The stables and other buildings were removed, grass was planted and the fountain was installed, but never connected to a water supply. Later a bandstand was built and symbolic cannons were placed. Mr. Thomas used a balance of the concert funds and his own money to put a plaque on the bandshell commemorating Mr. Wasdell and Mr. Findlay.
In 1959 when a Cenotaph was erected, the fountain was moved to Kelvin Grove Park. In June 1969, Council gave Brenda Cox, Thomas' granddaughter, permission to take the fountain, which was deteriorating, to her home. She gave the fountain to the newly restored Woodchester Villa in 1980. With the cooperation of the Historical Society and Town Council, the fountain has been restored to a suitable location in the Park close to where it started out 100 years ago.
The fountain was officially rededicated on July 1, 2000.
Contributors: Town of Bracebridge, Ontario Police Association, Art & Brenda Cox, John Dawson, District of Muskoka, Wes Finch & Sons, knowles Plumbing, Bracebridge Horticultural Society, Tomkins & Heels Monuments and Don Currie, Project Coordinator.
Text from plaque 2:
In memory of Harlod Roy Hammond and Marjorie Peacock Hammond.
Cilderen of Pioneers whose devotion instilled the values of Community, Transportation Service and entropreneurial spirit in generations of the Hammond Family.
Paul & Shirley Hammond - 2002
Visit Instructions:
Please post another photo of the fountain and tell us your opinion about the fountain.