The Swan Memorial Fountain
The figure of the god Pan, atop the Swan Memorial Fountain by MacMonnies.
Located at the intersection of the Parkway and Elm Street, the fountain was dedicated in 1910 to the memory of local attorney Joseph Swan by his wife, Emma. It was the first monument in Utica’s Olmsted parks and parkway system, and when it was dedicated, the Parkway had reached only so far as this fountain (about one sixth as far as it would go by 1919).
The fountain is a fanciful ensemble centered on a flute-playing Pan, the Greek god of the field and forest, which was fitting, given that it is situated at the edge of an urban forest known as Roscoe Conkling Park. Pan is flanked by sea serpents, below which, at the intermediate level, water spouts from fish heads; near the ground level, water emerges from spouts shaped dog heads into small basins that were intended for use, appropriately, by dogs and other thirsty smaller animals. Long neglected and damaged by a botched attempt at cleaning in the 1990s, it went through a successful major restoration in 2015.
One of the spouts shaped like fish heads on the Swan Fountain.
The Swan Memorial Fountain was the creation of Frederick William MacMonnies (1863-1937), arenowned American painter and sculptor who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he also apprenticed under the celebrated American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Mrs. Swan visited MacMonnies at his studio in Paris to commission the fountain, which in MacMonnies’ words was intended to offer “drinking facilities for birds, dogs, horses & pedestrians.” It was originally intended for the entrance to Roscoe Conkling Park at Seymour Avenue, but was deemed to be too small-scale for that spot and was placed instead at its present location at Elm Street. It was cast of bronze in France and is one of the most noteworthy pieces of public art in the Utica area.
MacMonnies’ most famous public artistic creations include: a statue of Nathan Hale that stands on the City Hall grounds in Manhattan; sculptures that ornament the famous arch in Grand Army Plaza at Brooklyn’s Olmsted-designed Prospect Park; a full-sized statue of William Shakespeare in the Library of Congress; and the fountain that served as the centerpiece of the celebrated Columbian Exposition and World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1893, the grounds of which were landscaped by Olmsted, Sr., with the assistance of his son, Olmsted, Jr., who did so much to reconfigure the face of Utica.
One of the spouts shaped like fish heads on the Swan Fountain.
In recognition of his distinguished work, MacMonnies was named to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was made a Commander in the French Legion of Honor. His work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery in Washington, and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, among many others.
The Swan Memorial Fountain (1910), the first monument placed on the Parkway, shown here shortly after it was dedicated, not long after the opening of the first leg of the Parkway, to Elm Street, in 1909. It is the work of the renowned artist Frederick William MacMonnies.
Another early view of the Swan Memorial Fountain, showing an original entrance to the park; although it has largely disappeared, a spur of that pathway can still be found in the hillside near the Utica Zoo, now located at the upper left.
The Swan Memorial Fountain today.