Over the years, people have inquired about a fountain that was originally located on the “Big Bridge” but was later moved to West Avenue Park (now Ida Fritz Park), where it stood until at least 1968. In its nearly 100 years of existence, the fountain’s fortunes rose and fell several times. The story begins in 1872 with Lockport dentist Dr. Lawrence Wade (L.W.) Bristol.
Dr. L.W. Bristol was born in Connecticut in 1816, came to Lockport in 1839 and opened a “Dental Infirmary” on Niagara Street next to the Congregational Church (across the street from the present-day fire station). He married Lavinia Harrington of Lockport in 1845, but she died five years later, leaving him with a young daughter. Bristol married again, in 1852, to Sophronia Sadler, also of Lockport, and they had three children. It was Dr. Bristol who tended to the injured when the Congregational Church was struck by lightning during the Lockport cyclone of May 1853. On March 12, 1872, Sophronia Bristol died while still in her 40s with two minor children at home.
In the fall of 1872, it was announced that a new fountain would be placed in a small, park-like setting near the bridge that joined Main Street with West Main Street across from the Judson House (later the Kenmore and Lox Plaza Hotels). At that time, the bridge span was 105 feet wide but did not connect with the Cottage Street Bridge. The fountain was a gift to the city from Dr. L.W. Bristol and became known as the “Bristol Fountain.” As Mrs. Bristol had passed away only a few months before, he may have given the fountain in her memory. Although the fountain was ornate, it was also practical; the basin was intended to be a public horse trough. There were other troughs in the city, but none more decorative than the Bristol Fountain. By late September, water was flowing in the basin and a month later, the fountain itself was installed. The papers reported many “delighted spectators” stopped to “take a second look” at the fountain.
For the first few years after it was installed, there were few, if any, complaints about the fountain, but beginning in 1876, some negative comments began to appear in the papers. On Aug. 22, 1876, the Lockport Daily Journal, after reporting that a sign had been placed at the fountain “to keep off the grass,” added that “the extreme nastiness of the scum upon the water is enough to deter anyone from near approach.” Over the next couple of years, the fountain was often praised in the papers, but also criticized, usually because it wasn’t working. “The Bristol Fountain still keeps up an appearance of summer” (1877); “The Bristol Fountain sprinkleth merrily” (1878); “The Bristol Fountain is not in active operation” (1879); “… time for the Bristol Fountain to put in an appearance” (1880); “The horses say they couldn’t get along at all now without the water trough at the Bristol Fountain” (1881), and this commentary in the Lockport Daily Journal that same year: “Since the Common Council undertook to run the Bristol Fountain, they have made a poor fiat of it. Better return it to the Doctor’s supervision.”
By 1882, there was talk about moving the fountain to a different location. Some suggestions were realistic, such as relocating it to another park or to the intersection of Main and Locust streets where it could still be used as a horse trough. Others were more tongue-in-cheek. “There is considerable talk about moving the Big Bridge up between the Hodge Opera House and the American [hotel] and putting the Bristol Fountain in the post office.”
In the spring of 1883, it was reported, “The Bristol Fountain fails to spout again,” and there were calls for it to at least be painted to improve its appearance. By June, the momentum was building that “the Bristol Fountain should be removed to the city park without delay.” In October, 1883, a resolution was passed to move the fountain from its “present unsightly and improper location to…the triangle between New and Old Main Streets” (West Avenue Park, now Ida Fritz Park). By May 1884, the Bristol Fountain was flowing in West Avenue Park but because it wasn’t in the heart of the bustling city, it became a target for vandals and the city police were asked to monitor the park and arrest any trespassers.
Next week: The Fountain in West Avenue Park, 1884 to 1968