Women’s Leadership Fountain

Background
The Women’s Leadership Fountain is the oldest working fountain in Kansas City located off 9th and Paseo in Kansas City, Mo. The inspiration for the fountain came from George Kessler, a historic landscape architect. He approached the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Parks and Recreation Board architect, John Van Brunt, in 1889 to design a 9th Street fountain that would be the entry piece for the Paseo Boulevard, which was under construction.

Together, they decided on a simple oval design with a limestone basin with nozzles in the center of the basin’s pool where water shoots up in the air. The fountain was surrounded by a raised sidewalk, floor garden, gas lamps and a balustrade that cost $4,115 to construct.

In the 1940’s the fountain stopped working, but it was repaired in 1970 and again in 1990. The renovation in the 1990’s was possible through the Central Exchange who led efforts to raise the $125,000 needed to properly restore the fountain. For the Central Exchange’s efforts, the fountain was renamed the Women’s Leadership Fountain and inscribed the names the 12 women who made the restoration possible.

This restoration did not hold and in January 2008 restoration of the fountain began again. The Central Exchange came together with Kansas City Parks & Recreation, Ollie Gates and several other prominent Kansas Citians to raise $1.3 million for a complete renovation including the foundation, fountain’s plumbing and Meyer and Fitz-Simmons monuments close by. Vannom Construction was hired as the general contractor and quickly brought in Hoffman Cortes and Susan Richards Johnson & Associates, Inc., to revive this historic fountain.

In February 2009 a dedication ceremony was held and the Women’s Leadership Fountain flowed once more. 

Challenge:
The Women’s Leadership Fountain was a very complex project. The team that renovated the fountain in 1970 replaced several damaged pieces with cast stone and those replacements were deteriorated to a point of no repair. The owner, Parks and Recreation, wanted the fountain restored to the original 107 year-old fountain using Indiana limestone.

Limestone is not only expensive, but hard to find. Not to mention the decorative elements included in the fountain were difficult to duplicate.

Solution:
Chuck Scammell with Hoffman Cortes recalled using this  high-end material on previous project and knew exactly what to do. First, he contacted Sturgis Materials to locate a quarry that produced this type of limestone that matched exactly the remaining pieces of the fountain. Next, Hoffman Cortes and Susan Richards Johnson found a fabricator that could produce finny holes – or decorative pieces – almost identical to the original ones.

 The project team was creative during the installation because they wanted the fountain to look as seamless as possible. They demolished select pieces of the fountain and then incorporated the salvaged pieces back into the fountain. Once this was finished, they replaced the baluster system and the fountain was once again running.

Results:
The Women’s Leadership Fountain was delivered under budget and on time making a very happy owner. Through creativity and resourcefulness the oldest working fountain in Kansas City runs once more.