Tootie McGregor Fountain - Fort Myers, Florida
Posted by: 
BoomersOTR
N 26° 36.648 W 081° 53.076
17R E 411932 N 2943633
An historic as well as cultural fountain located at the Fort Myers Country Club at 3591 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers, FL.
Waymark Code: WMTHJ9
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/26/2016
Views: 1
The Tootie McGregor Fountain is possibly the first work of art created in Fort Myers. It was commissioned by Dr. Marshall Orlando Terry in 1913 as a memorial to his wife Tootie McGregor Terry, who died in 1912.
The fountain originally served as a landmark and a watering trough for horses at “Five Points”.
“Five Points” was the name given for an intersection formed by the confluence of Cleveland Avenue, Anderson Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard), McGregor Boulevard, Main Street and Carson Street.
The base, trunk and top orb are pink granite quarried from northern Georgia. Weighing in at 24 tons (48,000 pounds), the cost of the granite in 1913 was estimated to be $5000. Today it would cost approximately a quarter of a million dollars.
There are four bronze palm fronds just below the orb. Continuing down the trunk are five snakes. Two are water moccasins, two more are diamondback rattlesnakes and the fifth one is a coral snake. These snakes once served as water spouts.
In 1952 the fountain was dismantled to make way for construction of the Caloosahatchee Bridge, with parts of it going to storage and the trunk, palm fronds and orb being moved to the Fort Myers Country Club.
In 1983 the Fort Myers Beautification Advisory Board commissioned local sculptor D.J. Wilkins to reassemble the fountain. Wilkins added a 40 foot diameter receiving pool with bullfrogs on upturned leaves as water spouts.
The Tootie McGregor Fountain now sits proudly in front of the Edison Restaurant in the clubhouse of the Fort Myers Country Club.
ArtSWFL.com has an excellent write up by Tom Hall with further historical information about Tootie McGregor Terry and this historic fountain.
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