Newark, NJ

For some time we have listed four fountains for New Jersey - 3 in Newark and 1 in Belleville. Until recently, we had only listed the street locations that were the probable sites for them. We are now moving closer to authenticating the information and even have some pictures to share. The one above came from Beth Zak-Cohen, Librarian at the Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center at the Newark Public Library.. However, we are not sure which of the fountains it is! As you can see below, on May 25, 1906 Newark agreed to accept three fountains though the location was unknown at that moment.

On June 6, it was left to a Mr. Denman and Commissioner Phillips to come back to the city with a final recommendation for locations. Among their choices were Springfield Avenue and Market Street, Avon and Clinton Avenues, and Washington and Arlington Avenues. We had sites for two of the fountains listed as Market & Madison Sts. & Passaic Ave. and  Washington, Lincoln & Belleview Aves. The fountain pictured above does not have a site listed.

In June 1906, we also have a news article that says Belleville had voted to accept a fountain and allow John H. Eastwood to select the site and put a light on top at his own expense. It indicated that Mr. Eastwood was likely to select Academy and Main Streets while we have a listing for Rutgers and Main Streets.

Recently, Beth has rewarded us with two more pictures that help clarify things a bit. We think that both fountains above are the same, but the locations are different. We believe that the picture on the left was taken when the fountain was located at the intersection of Market and Ferry Streets and was later moved to the front of the main library at 5 Washington Street. The picture on the right was in the Newark Evening News on May 11, 1931 and the woman in the picture is a staffer by the name of Mary DeVita. If you look closely, the lions heads are missing in both pictures - and as of today, the fountain itself is missing!

So, we're still just about positive that New Jersey got their fountains, but the search goes on to verify their location history and to find out what happened to them!

For more on the National Humane Alliance Fountains click here.