Bare Memorial Electric Fountain

I bought this hand-colored postcard a few ago at a flea market, intending to do a bit of research to see if the fountain still existed, and to visit it some day.

The reverse side of the postcard.

After a 4-mile run this morning, we decided to go on an adventure try to find the fountain. A bit of Google® searching turned up a good map, and a description of the fountain and park.

From Wikipedia:

“…The civic center of the borough is the borough park with its duck pond and fountain designed around the Big Spring. The present park, which [Daniel] Bare set aside for public use, is the result of successive improvement projects started in the 1870s and continuing through the early 20th century. A stone arch, counted as a contributing structure, was built in 1874 to channel the spring, and a breast dam was added in 1876 to impound the spring water into a pond; the first dam was replaced by the present steel and cement dam, a noncontributing structure, in 1958. Sometime in the 1920s to 1930s, the pond was further contained by a concrete basin. In 1937, the Bare Memorial Fountain, counted as a second contributing structure, with its oscillating streams [which rise to 25 feet] and colored lights was added.” 

Read the rest here.

It was raining lightly when we arrived. Notice, the curved supporting structures of the fountain have been removed.

We crossed the street to look in the windows of The Roaring Spring Blank Book Company.

Roaring Spring Paper Products History

“In 1887 Daniel M. Bare founded the Roaring Spring Blank Book Company to produce ledgers, journals, etc., hence the name 'Blank Book'. Today the company has grown from a 20 person operation in a small two story brick building to over 330 employees in a 400,000 square foot modern facility that manufactures a variety of school and office paper products.”

An etched logo on the front door. Inside were large book bindery machines.

Part of the park was under construction, and we were not able to walk around the entire perimeter, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.