"Music of the Sea" -- Port Arthur TX
N 29° 52.753 W 093° 55.632
15R E 410463 N 3305762
The former fountain "Music of the Sea," originally installed at the Jefferson County sub-courthouse, was moved to Lamar State College in 2005 to accomodate a hurricane protection project. Without water, it is now converted to a statue.
Waymark Code: WMG5JV
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/15/2013
Views: 5
The fountain "Music of the Sea" was offered to the city of Port Arthur by Edith Smith Norton in 1940 (the daughter of that City's second Mayor Charles Eugene Smith), as a memorial to her father. The fountain was accepted, and installed in front of the Jefferson County Sub-Courthouse in 1940.
The text on the memorial plaque reads as follows:
"Erected in memory of Charles Eugene Smoth, Mayor of Port Arthur 1899-1901, by his daughter Edith
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To have lived in the hearts of those we loved is not to die"
The fountain remained in service there until 2005, when repairs and improvements to the city's hurricane defenses after 2004's Hurricane Rita necessitated the fountain's relocation.
Lamar State College requested the fountain be relocated (at their expense) to anchor a new pedestrian mall they were building. The city agreed, and in 2005 the fountain's water supply was closed off and the fountain removed to the college campus.
When reinstalled, the water was not restored, thus converting the fountain to sculpture.
Source: transfer and history documents asssembled for the Port Arthur City Council: (
visit link)