Water flows through Merced’s historic Laura Fountain following restoration project

The marble fountain was built in 1888 by Merced Founder Charles Henry Huffman and named for his third wife Laura Kirkland Huffman. Originally located next to the El Capitan Hotel near the railroad, the fountain was used to promote Merced as place with plenty of water and would be turned on for travelers to see when trains pulled into the depot, according to Sarah Lim, director of the Merced County Courthouse Museum. This ultimately led to travelers nicknaming Merced “Fountain City.”

Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto along with the Merced County Historical Society, community members and the Merced Downtown Neighborhood Association, began fundraising efforts in 2021 to restore the fountain which sits among a rose garden along M Street.

More than $123,000 was raised for the restoration, Serratto said.

“So many people stepped up and so many people really cared in a big way about this project,” said Serratto.

The City Council voted to approve funding for the project which cost nearly $300,000.

“It’s been a long process getting it fixed — it was a challenging project,” said Serratto. “They had to redo a lot of the substructure — glad it’s finally done.”

The fountain had fallen into a state of disrepair which even led to the ground under the fountain becoming unstable..

Not only is the fountain a treasure, it’s a unique part of the city’s history and symbol of our founding, Serratto said. “It’s beautiful. It’s an incredible shame to let something so beautiful and so integral to our city’s history fall into disrepair.”

He said he learned during the process of many people across all backgrounds who have great memories of the fountain whether it be through weddings or other events. Serratto said the restoration of the fountain is about having pride in our community and creating a beautiful town.

“To be able to restore that, especially in such a visible spot I think — turn into a symbol of beauty and renewal instead of a symbol of decay I thought was really important,” he said. “Not just for the beauty of our city but also as a symbol of our resilience and our ability to rise up and renew ourselves.”

Serratto said the hope is that people treasure and take care of the fountain knowing that there was devotion and hard work that went into the project to restore the historical landmark.

“We want everybody to enjoy it, love it and take care of it,” said Serratto. “It’s really up to us to take care of our public spaces and make them matter.”

The restoration process which was completed by Solitude Lake Management, took about eight months to complete. City of Merced Assistant Engineer Paul Flores said that when the restoration process began, the interior bowl surrounding the center piece was starting to crack and sinking to one side. This caused water to leak through part of the side and through the bottom of the bowl.

The base material was failing and essentially starting to crack and staring to slope down on a certain angle,” Flores said. “By doing that, it was staring to somewhat separate the walls.”

In previous years, various types of temporary fixes were applied to the fountain including different types of coatings which ultimately didn’t hold resulting in pieces of concrete essentially breaking off, he said.

Some of the earth beneath the bowl had to be removed, new base rock was replaced and the ground was compacted to provide a stable base for the fountain. Part of the restoration process included the removal of the granite walls in order to grind them down, sand them and reseal them restoring them to their original look.

The bowl itself was restored by pouring new concrete around rebar and finished with a protective coating of an epoxy sealant.

The original plan was to remove the centerpiece in layers and have those pieces cleaned in a different location, Flores said. After looking at the age of the fountain and not wanting to damage it any way its was decided to clean the fountains centerpiece and repair it in place.

The fountain’s centerpiece also was cleaned and scrubbed to restore it to its current condition. Workers replaced the jaws on a couple of the centerpiece’s brass gargoyle heads as well as replacing the fountain’s commemorative plaque.

“The fountain itself the centerpiece, it wasn’t removed it had a pretty solid foundation so that was left in place,” Flores said, adding that all of the plumbing and pump system for the fountain was replaced as it had been cracked and was leaking in areas beneath the fountain.

The restoration process also involved the addition of granite obelisks around the bowl of the fountain and natural rock around the base of the centerpiece in an effort to replicate the fountains look in historical photographs. Flores said a new finial was manufactured specifically for the fountain’s centerpiece to mimic the one visible in historical photos. Lighting was also installed during the restoration process which will allow the fountain the be lit up at night.

“Since it is so old and it’s’ a centerpiece for Merced we had to take extreme care with especially the centerpiece,” said Flores.

There was a lot of care that went into the cleaning and repair resulting in a lot of precautions that were taken when working around the fountain, according to Flores.

“It’s just going to be a nice centerpiece for our city—and being located in Applegate Park, that’s pretty cool,” said Flores.

The 130-plus-year-old fountain which was moved from its original location to Applegate Park in 1935 by Jay Walton Huffman, son of Charles Henry Huffman and Laura Kirkland Huffman, required work, according to City of Merced Assistant Engineer Paul Flores. Rock was installed around the fountain’s pillars during the restoration process in an effort to replicate its original aesthetic.

The City of Merced plans to hold a formal re-dedication ceremony for the fountain in April.

This story was originally published November 17, 2024 at 6:00 AM.