Ashland Water Fountain - Ashland Downtown Historic District - Ashland, OR
N 42° 11.823 W 122° 42.923
10T E 523497 N 4671694
This drinking fountain is a contributing structure to the Ashland Downtown Historic District and is located in Plaza Island in downtown Ashland, OR.
Waymark Code: WMFWCN
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2012
Views: 9
Visitors to Plaza Island located in the heart of downtown Ashland will notice two drinking fountains. One is a large, iron fountain and the other is a smaller granite fountain. This smaller, granite drinking fountain was built and dedicated by the City of Ashland in 1927. There is a red sign near the granite fountain that highlights the history of Ashland's lithia water:
Ashland Lithia Water
The Lithia Fountain was installed on the Ashland Plaza in late 1927. In the 1900s, Lithia Water, which comes from the Pompadour Chief Spring, nearly four miles east of downtown, was the focus of a city-wide development plan that hoped to transform Ashland into a mineral spring-based resort. Under the slogan "Ashland Grows While Lithia Flows," Ashland's citizens passed a $175,000 bond in 1914 to develop Litia Park and build a pump and distribution system for the highly mineralized water. Although the system was built, the plan largely fizzled, at least in part due to the use of wood stave piping which quickly became clogged by mineral build-up that restricted flow.
Interest in Lithia Water was revived in the 1920s when a local group sought permission to bottle the water for sale, a venture which had minimal success due to the water's pungent taste and aroma. In 1927 the Ashland Chamber of Commerce petitioned the City Council to make Lithia Water available on the Plaza. The Lithia Fountain, built of locally quarried Ashland Granite, was installed later that year.
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This fountain is one of three contributing structures within Plaza Island that is part of the Ashland Downtown Historic District. If you're brave enough to taste the lithia water that flows out of the fountain, you'll most likely give a great repulsive look afterwards since this water smells like sulfur and tastes bitter and pungent.