What's that? Ligonier's 100-year-old, 3-tray fountain fit for 'man or beast'

(Editor’s note: ‘What’s That?’ is a recurring feature in the Tribune-Review’s Westmoreland Plus edition. If there’s something you’d like to see explored here, send an email to gtrcity@tribweb.com.)

Ligonier’s Diamond Park had a $3.5 million makeover that included a shiny, new copper roof on the bandstand only three years ago, but one piece was left intact — a 10-foot tall, three-tray cast-iron fountain that has been gawked at and refreshed tourists and “beasts” alike for a century.

“It originally was advertised as the Man and Beast Fountain way back then,” said Paul Fry, retired borough secretary-treasurer.

The fountain has a waist-high “bubbler” for people to drink from, and practically on the ground there is a small tray where dogs can drink. On an adjacent third side facing North Market Street is a much wider and deeper trough where horses used to get refreshed. The trough is fed by water from a dolphin-like fish mouth.

On the top is a statue of a woman feeding a dove that was identified in advertising as Girl Feeding Bird.

It’s been a conversation piece for decades and is “really very unique in its own right,” Fry said.

“It’s also had a pretty rough existence over the years, to tell you the truth,” Fry laughed.

The fountain was a gift to the borough from Ligonier Valley Hose Co. 1. It was purchased for $594 in 1921, according to news stories.

A brass plaque on the fountain notes its dedication June 30, 1921.

The decorative drinking fountain stood on a grassy parcel near the town bandstand until Feb. 17, 2003, when a PennDOT snow plow slammed into it after losing its brakes heading south on North Market Street, according to news stories.

After the crash, Fry said borough employees scooped up the pieces and stored them in the borough garage. Fry recalled finding five more pieces a few days after the crash when the snow melted.

Later, Fry learned that Stewart Iron Works Co., of Covington, Ky., the original manufacturer of the fountain, was still in existence. The company agreed to evaluate the pieces and determine what could be salvaged and what needed to be replaced.

Council used insurance to pay more than $40,000 for the repairs. The fountain returned to The Diamond later that same year, according to news reports.

“It was amazing how they pieced it together,” said Mayor Ormond “Butch” Bellas.

The intricate inner workings of the fountain are equally amazing, Bellas said. Water trickles from the human fountain down to the dog fountain, and it also fed into the horse trough until 1999, when the borough’s insurer expressed concerns about the potential for an infant drowning. Water supply temporarily was cut off to that tray.

It has since been reconnected, but a foam filling has been added to safeguard against accidents, according to Fry.

Another lesser-publicized event occurred in June 1976 when a vandal “stuffed a M-80” explosive into the spigot feeding the horse trough “and literally blew it apart,” Fry said.

In 2009, Fry recalled receiving a call from Babylon, N.Y., officials inquiring about the fountain because it had heard from the Smithsonian Institute that Ligonier’s was still in working order. Babylon’s had been out of service for decades, but the town wanted to rebuild and reinstall it.

According to Fry, Ligonier officials decided to help out another town and Ligonier’s fountain was shipped back to Stewart Iron Works to be dismantled, cleaned and castings made for the replica in Babylon, located on southern Long Island.

Fry said Babylon officials were so grateful he was invited to the fountain dedication in May 2010.

“They treated me like royalty, and I got to walk in the parade to the dedication with city council, too,” Fry said.

“Yeah, this fountain has a lot of stories,” Fry said.