"Long Life & Happiness for All Its Residents" #3
Wednesday Apr 15th, 2020
We all “play favorites”, don’t we? I have favorite collections at the Museum (Griswold cast iron, women’s clothing and hand embroideries). We have favorite colors, sports teams and Presidential candidates (we won’t go there, I promise). Well, I have a favorite monument in Perry Square downtown. Once a working water fountain, this 6 -foot -tall carved piece of granite is located behind the Civil War monument if you are coming from the West. It has seen a little wear over the years. The “cups” on each corner had a brass tube coming from above for water and one is even labeled “ice water”. Years of rough winters have made the inscribed writing a little hard to read but upon closer inspection, you can make out: “Presented to the City of Erie May 30, 1883 by Geo. D. Selden”. I had to research who George Selden was and why he would give a fountain to the city.
