Today's journal entry could also be titled "This day in Louisville history", for on this day thirty years ago, the infamous Louisville Falls Fountain was unveiled. Yep, on August 8, 1988 the residents of Louisville were blessed with a new symbol of Louisville - one that some said would be synonymous with the St. Louis Arch or the Empire State Building. Riiiiight.
The fountain's machinery was in a 20 foot high octagonal steel platform what stood above the water, anchored 1,650 feet from the Ohio River shore. Every fifteen minutes from May 1 through Thanksgiving Day, 41 jets sprayed almost 240,000 gallons of Ohio River water into the air, and for four minutes a central nozzle would spray water at 125 miles an hour to form the fleu-d-lis, the symbol of Louisville. The fountain cost $2.1, and was a gift from Mary and Barry Bingham Sr. They paid to have the fountain built, and created a $500,000 endowment for it's first five years of operation. But that fund was exhausted quickly due to unanticipated expenses. Operating costs were higher than expectged, and the fountain malfunctioned many times, quickly depleting the maintenance fund. The Louisville Water Company then took over the maintenance, and to lower operation costs, the height of the spray was reduced from 420 feet to 375 feet. After more malfunctions, the fountain was shut down permantly in 1998 and sold for scrap. But for ten years, we were able to drive by downtown and the riverfront on I-64 and could see what I affectinately called "The Big Pisser."
I thought the fountain was very cool, especially at night. It had colored lights, and was clearly visible from the Belvedere and in downtown Louisville and across the river in Jeffersonville, Indiana. I always wanted to go inside of the fountain platform. I pictured it being like the inside of a small submarine. I was very bummed when they shut it down and hauled it up river and sold it for scrap. I would have liked to have bought it.
1 comment:
I remember going to the dedication on 8/8/88. The fountain got a lot of criticism, but I always liked it.
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