Finally

What started out as a simple repair job quickly became apparent the other morning it was also eliminating a dangerous safety hazard. On Thursday morning, July 9, employees from Wellsville's Stevenson Foundry & two of the ville's Street Dept. crew removed the big fountain located between 6th & 7th Sts. on Broadway.

The fountain was being taken to Steveco at the far eastern end of Broadway to be cleaned up and repaired. It hasn't worked for years. After lifting the fountain up it was discovered that the old base was just barely holding up that historic fountain. It was only by the grace of God that fountain was still standing. Seeing the corrosion and cracks on the base one could easily see that it was none too soon to get this job done.

After everything was removed you could easily see why that particular fountain hasn't been able to keep water. There were huge cracks in the cement under the base that allowed water to quickly soak into the ground. Those cracks weren't visible when everything was in place.

Stevenson employees Bob Jones, Jason Keyes & Denny Wright brought down "Big Bertha" and their trucks for the job of getting the fountain to the foundry. The fountain will be sand blasted, patched up and painted. They will also be building a new custom made stainless steel base with a ring to attach the bottom of the fountain to the base. There'll never be any worry about corrosion on the new base. The old base was made out of cast iron.

After watching that operation there's no doubt that Steveson will do a first class job. They even had custom made steel beams to fit around the fountain for lifting it out and securing it to the truck for transport. Village officials are assuring that fountain will be in operation for years to come. By Thursday afternoon three inches of new concrete was poured onto the fountain floor. Once that cures the new concrete will be sealed. It is expected to only take a week or two to have this historic piece of the ville back in place.

No one seems to know the history of this particular fountain or when was the last time it actually worked. I'm speculating it was one of the originals put in place in the early 1900s when they took out the railroad line. This fountain is a little more grandeur than the others. You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge for a better view.

ole nib