[MassHistPres] Historic Fountains

Fri Jan 26 16:06:05 EST 2007

In addition to the fountain in the Winfield Robbins Garden, mentioned in one of the responses, Arlington has a pair of fountains in front of the Town Hall.  They are not iron but stone, and were designed by Cyrus Dallin, and installed when the Hall was new in 1913.  The caveat I wish to offer is to be very careful when replacing the pumping system  When the fountains were taken apart, restored, and new works installed a few years ago (at considerable expense), the pumps threw the water over the edges instead of into the basins below, thus causing the systems to eventually run dry.  The "solution"  has been to turn them off, and in the winter cover them with awful-looking green plastic "tarps."

In the iron fountain department, a neighbor of ours restored to working order such a fountain - perhaps 8 or 10 feet in diamter.  He explained to me how the pumping system had to be changed, but I didn't really understand, and can't recall the rationale for that.  I can put you in touch with him if you want - I believe he found someone in our area to do the work.  This particular fountain was part of Potter's Grove, a noted private (but open to the publ;ic) garden ca. 1870.  It's still in its original location although much of the "grove" has been built upon.

J. Worden
Arlington HDC

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From: masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu
Date: Fri Jan 26 11:00:04 CST 2007
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 11, Issue 25

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Bomb shelter (Aaron Marcavitch)
   2. Re: Bomb shelter (Dennis De Witt)
   3. Re: Historic fountains (Rowcroft, Jessica  (DCR))

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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:05:13 -0800 (PST)
From: Aaron Marcavitch <acornhp at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bomb shelter
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Message-ID: <794796.7325.qm at web36806.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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Very cool question!  Maybe you will have some luck if we posted this to the Recent Past
Preservation Network.  This is very much a recent past type of preservation project.

However, my first blush at this is that it IS worth documenting, at minimum.  Perhaps parts of it
can be removed and saved at the local historical society.  These types of things tend to not be
saved - and I would love to have a visual, written, and drawn record.

Good luck!
Aaron

--- Cupfish Cupfish <cupfish at msn.com> wrote:

> I posted this over the summer and don't know if it was received, as I was
> then having listserv mail problems.  My apologies if this is a repeat.
>
> How important is it to preserve a 1950 backyard bomb shelter?  The structure
> has a concrete floor about 12'x12', with masonry block walls on 3 sides.
> The entrance side has a heavy wooden outside door with another interior
> wooden door that closes from the inside. (Scary!)  The bunker is
> south-facing, dug into a small hillock.  The ceiling was originally
> underground; huge wooden beams with layers of roofing materials on top, then
> the dirt.  It's the ceiling that's deteriorating and will cave in without
> preservation.  The man who built it was the Civil Defense coordinator for
> our community.
>
> This is one of those preservation jobs that has pretty much no benefit for
> the homeowner, but I think it's also a real piece of American history.  The
> public bomb shelters have almost all disappeared and been converted to other
> uses.  I found no information about backyard bomb shelter preservation.  Can
> anyone think of who to contact to find out what other people have done to
> preserve Cold War icons like this?
>
> Anne Kornitsky
> Oakham MA
> 508 882 3777
>
>
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us
> directly.  PLEASE DO NOT  TO THE WHOLE LIST.
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--------
http://www.marcavitch.com

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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:33:17 -0500
From: Dennis De Witt <djdewitt at rcn.com>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bomb shelter
To: MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <9BF520BE-FF66-4AA6-88AA-2011CE9B592B at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

How about the VAF?  Do they have a listserve?

Dennis De Witt

On Jan 26, 2007, at 11:05 AM, Aaron Marcavitch wrote:

> Very cool question!  Maybe you will have some luck if we posted
> this to the Recent Past
> Preservation Network.  This is very much a recent past type of
> preservation project.
>
> However, my first blush at this is that it IS worth documenting, at
> minimum.  Perhaps parts of it
> can be removed and saved at the local historical society.  These
> types of things tend to not be
> saved - and I would love to have a visual, written, and drawn record.
>
> Good luck!
> Aaron
>
> --- Cupfish Cupfish <cupfish at msn.com> wrote:
>
>> I posted this over the summer and don't know if it was received,
>> as I was
>> then having listserv mail problems.  My apologies if this is a
>> repeat.
>>
>> How important is it to preserve a 1950 backyard bomb shelter?  The
>> structure
>> has a concrete floor about 12'x12', with masonry block walls on 3
>> sides.
>> The entrance side has a heavy wooden outside door with another
>> interior
>> wooden door that closes from the inside. (Scary!)  The bunker is
>> south-facing, dug into a small hillock.  The ceiling was originally
>> underground; huge wooden beams with layers of roofing materials on
>> top, then
>> the dirt.  It's the ceiling that's deteriorating and will cave in
>> without
>> preservation.  The man who built it was the Civil Defense
>> coordinator for
>> our community.
>>
>> This is one of those preservation jobs that has pretty much no
>> benefit for
>> the homeowner, but I think it's also a real piece of American
>> history.  The
>> public bomb shelters have almost all disappeared and been
>> converted to other
>> uses.  I found no information about backyard bomb shelter
>> preservation.  Can
>> anyone think of who to contact to find out what other people have
>> done to
>> preserve Cold War icons like this?
>>
>> Anne Kornitsky
>> Oakham MA
>> 508 882 3777
>>
>>
>> ******************************
>> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us
>> directly.  PLEASE DO NOT  TO THE WHOLE LIST.
>> MassHistPres mailing list
>> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
>> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
>> ********************************
>>
>
>
> --------
> http://www.marcavitch.com
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> ______________
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited
> Access over 1 million songs.
> http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT  TO
> THE WHOLE LIST.
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
> ********************************

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:35:10 -0500
From:  Jessica  \(DCR\) <Jessica.Rowcroft at state.ma.us>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic fountains
To: <MFurber at aol.com>, <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID:
 <BF496CA728602F40ADC0E0D50F8C35824AB816 at ES-MSG-007.es.govt.state.ma.us>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=

The Historic Landscape Preservation Grant Program of the former DEM
funded work that did include restoration of a few fountains.  In my
quick scan of a list of project summaries, it looks like we funded work
at the Winfield Robbins Memorial Garden in Arlington (in the Civic Block
complex) that involved repair work to a historic fountain, and in Lee,
funds were used to repair the Daniel Chester French Temperance fountain
located on the Lee Common.  There may have been more projects that
encompassed some fountain work that did not jump put at me.

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of MFurber at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:53 AM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historic fountains

To all, a few introductions are in order as I have never posted on this
list.
My name is Jeff Furber and I am a member of Hopkinton Community
Preservation
Comm, we are in the process of restoring and reparing our historic,
circa
1907, cast iron water fountain..
Our project is to have a casting made of one of the missing tiers, have
the
fountain re-welded, sandblasted and painted and hopefully find funds to
put in
water and a recirculating pump.

I have been trying to locate different towns that have undertaken
similar
projects and speak to the committees for ideas and guidance.

So my question is , is there a list of town's in MA. that have historic
fountains.  Thanks Jeff Furber
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