I got down to the Fountain area this afternoon to see what progress had been made and well, WOW 😉
First thing that jumped out at me was the Commemorable Plaque in the concrete near
the entrance of Friendship Fountain park…
Yep as you can see it has been removed, mostly intact, but some damage is evident. I contacted Eric Lindstrom with the JEDC as after reviewing the plans I have available to me it wasn’t clear what the plans were for the plaque.
Eric replied promptly with the following:
“The plan is to place a new plaque back within 50 feet of the original location. Due to the condition of the plaque, our plans call for the plaque to be replicated exactly the same as the original. We wanted to keep the plaque at the site until the contractor can properly document the exact layout, materials used, letter types and sizes, etc. Originally, we wanted to use the original, however, the age and condition of the plaque will make this difficult. We are doing everything we can to replicate the plaque exactly as it was, but also making sure it lasts another 40-50 years with all new materials.”
Sounds good to me 🙂
Also got some rare shots of inside the pumphouse where the pumps themselves have been removed leaving only the pipe connections…
Oh and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Jacksonville Maritime Museum is OPEN during the Fountain renovations and would urge anyone that has a chance to visit the Southbank to make sure you stop by and get exposed to another rich part of Jacksonville’s History.
As the rest of the pictures attest to there has been lots of work, this isn’t the Courthouse 😉 project, and we will continue to try and keep things updated.
Once again my our thanks to the Folks of AC General who just have been great about access and Eric who has been extremely supportive with information.
-Bob