The Kilgour Fountain

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Standing strong and elegant, she has welcomed admirers since 1900.  The Kilgour Fountain at Hyde Park Square is a treasure and has been loved by generations of residents and those enjoying the Square with its greenspace and surrounding restaurants and shops.

The bronze fountain features a classically draped female figure, lion-head spouts, and fluted basins. Donated by brothers Charles Kilgour (1833-1906) a real estate investor and street railway engineer and his John Kilgour (1834-1914), a banker and president of the Cincinnati Street Railway, it was a gift to the people of Hyde Park-an area they helped to develop.  Together, the brothers transformed the community by developing horse-drawn bus lines and then electric trolley lines to what was once hundreds of acres of farmland.

Some say the Fountain was a peace offering, “Dubbed ‘Genevieve’ by generations of residents… The Kilgour Fountain was a gesture of goodwill to calm furor caused by the extension of the trolley tracks from Delta Avenue to Madison Road, disrupting the tranquility of a few bordering streets. In addition, the farsighted syndicate wanted to beautify the shopping district planned to be in walking distance of their developed property.“(Source: Cincinnati Magazine (September 1975) Peace offering or not, she is a local treasure.

The Kilgour brothers also gave the entire area a gift, in the form of what would one day become Cincinnati Bell. Charles Kilgour was riding a horse and became severely injured when the horse was spooked by a streetcar (ironically owned by Charles Kilgour), this resulted in his need to work from home for an extended period. His assistant, growing quite tired of the endless walking back and forth to deliver messages, suggested the idea of installing a telegraph. So, in 1873, Charles and John Kilgour formed the City and Suburban Telegraph Association. Telephones came along in 1878 and the company gained the exclusive rights to be a Bell System franchisee within a 25-mile radius of Cincinnati, thus becoming the first telephone exchange in Ohio and tenth in the United States. In 1903, the company was renamed the Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company.

The Fountain was designed by sculptor Joseph F. Cronin (1859-1923). Cronin was the Cincinnati-born son of William G. Cronin and Mary E. Cronin of County Cork, Ireland. He attended sculpture classes at the Cincinnati University School of Design from 1876-1878 and was active in Cincinnati from 1877 to at least 1906. His specialty was marble and granite cemetery monuments and statuary.  In 1976, the fountain was restored and redesigned by Eleftherios Karkadoulias, who lowered the lamps and added a large concrete pool.

The next time you are at Hyde Park Square, take a few minutes to admire her, still standing strong and elegant.

Kilgour Fountain. Photos by Mary Casey-Sturk