First phase of Mt. Morris’ Veterans Memorial Fountain restoration complete

MT. MORRIS — One of the first community events Mt. Morris Village President Phil Labash and his wife attended when they moved to the village 31 years ago was a Memorial Day service.

The community event took place in front of the Veterans Memorial Fountain and sprawled out into the street, Labash said. At the time, he didn’t realize the structure was a fountain, he said.

“You couldn’t see any of this,” Labash said, gesturing toward the fountain and the now-visible words carved into its stones. “You couldn’t read the words, you didn’t know the history of it. But we could tell that this was something that was important to the community.”

Restoration of the 1926 fountain – which is constructed of stones from all over the world, but predominately from North America and the Midwest – recently was completed and, on Thursday, Aug. 29, a rededication was held. The Veterans Memorial Fountain is located at 16 S. Wesley Ave., Mt. Morris.

“I really like being able to read the stones,” Rockford resident Chris Mann said. “It’s a piece of history that I think it’s really nice that they preserved it.”

Mann’s grandfather, U.S. Army Pvt. Heathcote “Hec” Mann, was chairman of the Veterans Memorial Fountain’s building committee and designed the structure.

“My grandfather died before I was born,” Mann said. “I know him through things like this.”

Hec Mann immigrated from New Zealand in 1915 and gained his U.S. citizenship for serving in World War I.

“My grandmother always said he asked for a rock [for the fountain] to be sent from New Zealand,” Mann said. “I can’t find it yet, but maybe it’s there.”

The Kohler Foundation, of Kohler, Wisconsin, funded the fountain’s restoration at no cost to the village. Heritage Restoration & Design Studio, of Peoria, did the restoration work.

The Kohler Foundation has preserved art and art environments across the country for more than 30 years, Kohler Foundation Preservation Project Manager Beth Wiza said. Increasing access to the arts and building community through art preservation projects is exciting, she said.

Preservation is critical to the nation’s history, Heritage President Michael Berlinger said.

“Without having a knowledge of the past, you don’t know where you are and you certainly don’t know where you’re going to be going,” Berlinger said. “History is critical to knowing who we are. A monument like this, this is just a very visible sign of that history, and in this case, very specific to Mt. Morris.”

Physical restoration of the Veterans Memorial Fountain is Phase 1, but it’s a big phase, said Paula Diehl, Mt. Morris Economic Development Corporation executive director.

“It means a lot to me, personally,” Diehl said. “It represents our freedom, and I don’t think people see that anymore.”

Steps yet to come include getting the fountain on the National Register of Historic Places to ensure it’s preserved in perpetuity and to restore it to a working drinking fountain, she said.

“It’s not a fountain yet, but everything we need is here,” Labash said. “I’m just really excited by the appearance, what it looks like and the fact that, now, you don’t have to hear the history, you can see the history, you can read the history. I think it’s just a beautiful part of our community.”