The name of the company that built the fountain, or where that company was located, is not known. The newspapers of the day (The Gouverneur Times, The Gouverneur Herald and, in a 1926 retrospective article, the Gouverneur Free Press ) all printed stories about the Centennial Fountain, but not one of them noted its creators or the specific date of its installation.

 

The fountain, in its initial configuration, was taller and more ornate than it appears today. A sculpture of three bears was originally situated in the center of the large basin, with a smaller basin above. On July 27, 1892, sixteen years after the fountain’s dedication, the ceremonial cornerstone for the First Presbyterian Church was laid. A photograph at the Gouverneur Museum shows townspeople arriving by horse and buggy to witness the formalities. On that rainy day, the photographer positioned himself on a high perch, gaining the high-angle perspective necessary to capture the large image he envisioned. In the foreground of that picture is the Centennial Fountain. The sculpture of the three bears is easily spotted, though the upper basin is not visible. All of the elements above the large basin have since been lost. A circa 1930 postcard of the Village Park, also at the Gouverneur Museum, features the fountain looking much as it does today.

 

The Centennial Fountain had been a feature of the Village Park for more than eighty years when, during the week of May 2, 1957, it was removed from the park and put in the scrapyard. As was noted in the May 22, 2010 issue of the Watertown Daily Times, “The fountain was removed because of vandalism, a deteriorating condition, the cost of maintenance, and the widening of Route 11, according to information provided by village Historian Joseph D. Laurenza.” Town of Gouverneur Supervisor David Spilman Jr. noted that to have the space necessary to widen the highway, the State had claimed part of the Village Park.

 

The 2010 Watertown Daily Times newspaper article reports the basic facts: Mary Ellen LaFalce and her husband, Frank B. LaFalce, somehow obtained the fountain, had it restored, then installed the fountain in working order in the side yard of their Richville home, where it remained for many years. 

 

Around thirty years after the fountain had been taken out of the Park, Mary Ellen remarked to her good friend, art teacher Elizabeth Gleason, that the fountain was looking a little shabby. The paint was beginning to flake off the figures, and it needed to be repainted. Liz, an accomplished artist, agreed to do the job. During the summer, she devoted two weeks or so to painting the fountain, working up to two hours a day at the intricate task.

 

The close-up photograph in the newspaper article illustrates the details of the fountain after Mrs. Gleason’s refurbishment. The fountain was not disassembled, but was painted in place and in one piece. A special oil/acrylic-mix paint that would hold up to the constant flow of water was used for the project. 

 

In the spring of 2010, when Mary Ellen LaFalce bequeathed the Centennial Fountain to the village in her will, it had been fifty-three years since the fountain’s removal from the park.  When Mayor Dorothy Vorce was notified of Mrs. LaFalce’s bequest to the village, she quickly called Supervisor David Spilman Jr. at Farley Equipment Company and told him to go retrieve the fountain. Dave recalled his reply to the mayor, “I’m getting it out of the yard, but I’m putting it right back where it came from.” 

 

Almost immediately, he remembers, his mother heard about the fountain returning to Gouverneur. Korleen Spilman called her son and asked, “Do you know where it goes?” He didn’t know, exactly, but said that he’d be sure to find a good place for it. “Meet me in the park in half an hour,” Korleen instructed, “and I’ll show you where it goes.” She had grown up on Main Street in Gouverneur and had played on the fountain when she was a child. Dave arrived in the park with a can of orange spray paint, and Korleen painted an X to mark the spot where the fountain should be reinstalled.