The World War I Memorial Fountain, Broad and Main Streets, Doylestown, PA
The fountain was dedicated at 2 on Memorial Day, 1922, following a parade through Doylestown that included 200 veterans of what was then called the "World War," as well as members of the Grand Army of the Republic (Union veterans of the Civil War). The life-size bronze statuary group, which surmounts a monolithic bowl of blue Indiana limestone, leaves out all of the bitterness of war and accentuates service and humanitarianism. It avoids the idea of carnage, slaughter and devastation, and impressively pictures the 'buddy' spirit of the American soldier and the beauty of human sympathy. "The group is the principal feature of the memorial. It depicts one injured soldier, kneeling, ministering to a more sorely injured 'buddy,' who reclines on his arm, pouring water from his canteen into a cup clutched by the fevered fingers of his companion. The water running into the cup escapes through the interior of the monument, and comes out through decorative apertures on four sides of the bronze base into the monolithic bowl." A committee formed to produce a World War memorial for Doylestown considered many designs for tablets, monuments, fountains and flagstaffs before selecting the creation of William R. Mercer (1858-1939), a Doylestown sculptor and craftsman who was the brother of Henry C. Mercer. John Bateman, a sculptor from Haddonfield, , made the fountain, which cost $8,500. William Mercer used two World War I veterans from Doylestown, Raymond Rutherford and Russell Gulick, as his principal models, although a half dozen or so local soldiers posed at some point.
Size: 2400px × 3600px
Location: Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, PA, United States, US, USA, North America, American
Photo credit: © Patti McConville / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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