Butler-Perozzi Fountain - Ashland, OR
N 42° 11.614 W 122° 43.116
10T E 523234 N 4671306
This fountain was displayed as part of the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and then purchased and relocated to Lithia Park in 1916.
Waymark Code: WMWH6N
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2017
Views: 4
Lithia Park is hands-down the most beautiful and diverse park in all of Southern Oregon. It's Ashland's crown jewel, providing many activities for visitors all through the year. From walking along many of the bark-covered paths and trails throughout the park, to bathing in Ashland Creek which flows through the middle of the park, to picnicking at any of many picnic tables that are spread throughout the grounds, Lithia Park has something for everyone. There is a playground, a Rose Garden, a Japanese Garden, tennis courts, two duck ponds to feed the ducks... There are so many things to do here, it is almost impossible to appreciate the whole park in just one day, but it CAN be done. I've done it myself a few times!
One of the centerpieces in the heart of Lithia Park is the Butler-Perozzi Fountain sculpted in Italy by Italian artist A. Frilli. This fountain was showcased at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 and was located among a number of palace buildings that made up the Expo grounds at what is now known as the Marina District. Domingo Perozzi was instrumental in purchasing the fountain (along with Gwin Butler) for $3000 after completion of the Expo and shipping it to Ashland and donating it to the city and the park. There are two plaques that lie near the fountain and one commemorates the original completion of the fountain as well as the restoration of the fountain in 1987. The plaque says the following:
BUTLER-PEROZZI FOUNTAIN
1916
SCULPTOR, A. FRILLI, FLORENCE, ITALY
RESTORED AND RE-SCULPTED
1987
SCULPTOR, JEFFREY BERNARD, ASHLAND, OREGON
THIS FOUNTAIN WAS GIVEN TO THE CITY OF ASHLAND BY
GWIN S. BUTLER AND DOMINGO PEROZZI IN 1916.
THE RESTORATION WAS FOUNDED BY THE CITIZENS OF ASHLAND
AND HER MANY FRIENDS IN ORDER THAT THE FOUNTAIN
MIGHT ONCE AGAIN GRACE THIS BEAUTIFUL PARK.
Gwin Butler was a major benefactor over the years and he and his wife contributed much to the City of Ashland. They had no children and most of his $750,000 estate was willed to many fraternal and community service organizations after his death in 1947. There is an amphitheater nearby that was built and dedicated to Butler and his wife.
The National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Lithia Park mentions the Butler-Perozzi Fountain link to the San Francisco Exposition and reads (page 17 of the PDF document):
On November 18, G. S. Butler and Domingo Perozzi announced the purchase of a fountain at the San Francisco Fair for approximately $3000, to be erected in the Park as a memorial to themselves as donors of land for the Park. This is the Perozzi Fountain, near Granite Street, where the stairs are.
Domingo Perozzi was also a major benefactor to Ashland and I found a website from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Domingo Perozzi House that he built and lived in says the following about him:
During the last years of his life, Domingo Perozzi contributed to the dairy industry in Oregon, working to improve dairy stock and possessing one of the finest herds of registered Brown Swiss cattle in the state at his farm near Eugene, Oregon. The Perozzis' influence in Ashland is linked both to the Park and to education. Before his death, Mr. Perozzi and his wife deeded three acres of his land to the city for park use. He also was instrumental in purchasing the Italian marble fountain from the 1915 Pan-American Exposition in San Francisco and donating it to the park where it is now known as the Butler-Perozzi Fountain.
I also found this excerpt about Domingo Perozzi (web link location unknown):
Perozzi was born in 1871 in Switzerland. In the autumn of 1896 he established a creamery in Ashland located near the city park. By 1905 the operation was distributing milk, butter and other products to a large area over southern Oregon and Northern California. He and his wife donated three lots to the park and with another local citizen purchased an Italian marble fountain from the World's Fair grounds in 1916 and relocated it in the city park. The Perozzis also donated a large land parcel to the local normal school. Their 40 acre gift was a determining factor in the permanent location of the college on its present site.
Finally, visitors to Ashland may partake in historical tour of Lithia Park and the City of Ashland's website mentions the Butler-Perozzi fountain as having been showcased at the San Francisco 1916(sic) World Art Expo.