Brooks Memorial Fountain

Brooks Memorial Fountain, a lovely Greek Revival structure which features a regular evening color light show. Located at the entrance of the downtown area, this fountain was once the site of the first courthouse.   In 1876, after the first Court House was removed from the West End Park the City of Marshall erected a bandstand at a cost of $200. Around 1885 Jim Cox moved the old bandstand to his home on the northwest corner of the park. After the bandstand was removed from the park a pool was maintained at that location from 1885 until it was removed in 1929 to make way for the Brooks Fountain. At the time there were several sturgeon in the pool and in 1909 the City Council voted to throw a log into the park pool for the turtles. On July 3, 1930, during Marshall's Centennial Celebration, Harold C. Brooks presented the city with a unique fountain in memory of his father C. E. Brooks. The fountain, erected in the center of the West End Park, was of chaste Greek Doric design. The central structure was a replica of the "Temple of Love" in Marie Antoinette's garden at Versailles, France. The fountain displayed ninety-six different combinations of color and water effects in a ten-minute cycle. It was illuminated by thirty-five 1,000-watt colored projectors and projected two tons of water per minute. In 1976 the community restored the fountain as an American Bicentennial project. Back to the top of this page     Back to the Marshall Michigan Home Page Back to the Marshall Home Page History Index     Excerpts of "A history of Marshall" used by permission from Richard Carver, all rights reserved. Ordering Information