Crews work to update wall around Morgan Fountain

Bill Bengtson, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·3 min read

Aug. 10—One of downtown Aiken's most prominent landmarks is getting some attention this month.

The fountain at Park Avenue and Laurens Street, largely known as Morgan Fountain, has some fresh rock in place and a sturdier retaining wall.

"This is long overdue," said Lex Kirkland, public services director of Aiken's municipal government. "I'm not even sure how many decades back we'd have to go to find when it was revamped like this, but we have taken the stones that were originally there. We've kept the footprint, but we have built an entirely new foundation wall behind it, and are veneering that with the stonework that existed before."

Allen Riddick, president of the Aiken County Historical Society, said photos indicate the fountain dates back at least to the 1890s, and was named in honor of a mayor. The fountain is capped with a sculpture of a boy and girl under an umbrella.

A crew from Bosse Stoneworks in Williston was on the job Tuesday, putting pieces into place, applying "mud" and generally making changes that should help the structure "stand up better to the traffic challenges that it faces today," in Kirkland's words.

Work started last week and should be wrapped up this week, he said, noting the funding is from "last year's budget," and similar work was done at two other roundabouts: York Street and Richland Avenue; and Chesterfield Street and Park Avenue.

"I think those went well, and this is the third and final one in that series," Kirkland said.

The South Carolina Picture Project website notes, "Morgan Fountain in was built in honor of Thomas Redman Morgan, the city's mayor from 1899 to 1900. During his tenure, Morgan was determined to ensure Aiken's success for generations to come by implementing multiple beautification projects."

That mayor "laid the plans for 175 future parkways and hired a person to landscape the area around these roads. This included planting magnolia and oak trees as well as vibrant rye grass around Aiken's new streets. This foresight was a gift to future residents, who now enjoy the shade and elegance of these towering trees," the website notes.

It adds, "The original Morgan fountain stood at this same intersection of Laurens Street and Park Avenue ... but it was damaged by a storm in the 1930s. It was replaced in 1963 and the historical marker seen next to the fountain was recently added to honor Thomas Morgan's contributions to the City of Aiken."

The Aiken Downtown Development Association, in issuing a Christmas ornament featuring the fountain, noted, "First erected in the early 1900s, the original boy and girl fountain was much lower to ground level. Then, for more than 20 years, the original was missing and no one knows what happened to it. In the 1960s, money was raised from the community to replace the fountain and rejuvenate Morgan Circle as we see it today."

Years later, the boy and girl "had to be replaced," the ADDA account noted. "The original manufacturer was contacted and a new mold was formed using pictures of the fountain as a guide."