Lotta's Fountain
Lotta's Fountain (" Lotta's Fountain ") is a cast iron fountain in San Francisco that was inaugurated in 1875 . The fountain is the oldest preserved monument in the city and at the same time a popular meeting place. The fountain stands on a pedestrian island where Geary Street and Kearny Street flow into Market Street , one of the main thoroughfares in downtown San Francisco.
History and meaning
The fountain is a foundation by Lotta Crabtree and bears her name accordingly. Lotta Crabtree was an American actress , entertainer and comedian who was born in New York in 1847, but whose family moved to gold rush California in the early 1850s . As a child, Lotta Crabtree appeared in saloons in the rapidly emerging gold rush towns. From 1856 she lived with her mother in San Francisco and performed both there and in the San Francisco area as "Miss Lotta, the San Francisco Favorite". Although the family moved to the east coast of the United States in 1864, Lotta Crabtree, who achieved national fame there, thanked the city in 1875, which was so essential to her career, by donating the fountain, which originally served as a drinking water fountain. The fountain with its water-spouting lion heads was poured in Philadelphia and then brought to San Francisco on behalf of Crabtree. At the inauguration of the fountain, Lotta Crabtree was absent because of a tour in the eastern United States: In the presence of Mayor James Otis and actor Henry Edwards , an aunt of Crabtree drank the first water that gushed from the fountain.
After the severe earthquake that occurred in the early morning hours on April 18, 1906, which resulted in severe fires throughout the city, the fountain was one of the few structures still standing. The fountain therefore served as a meeting point for many. A plaque on the fountain commemorates this event and the role the fountain played during the disaster. To this day, the earthquake is commemorated here every April 18 morning at 5:12 a.m., the time of the earthquake.
Another plaque commemorates the concert by the leading lyric coloratura soprano Luisa Tetrazzini in front of the fountain. After contract disputes, she was unable to perform in New York for a long period of time, whereupon she declared that she wanted to sing on the streets in San Francisco, because there you could still sing freely. She kept this promise at Christmas 1910. The event was reportedly attended by 250,000 spectators.
Single receipts
- ↑ a b c Atlas Obscura about Lotta's fountain , accessed on August 5, 2016
- ↑ Lotta Crabtree , History of American Women: Lora Crabtree, accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ a b c Lotta’s Fountain on zpub.com , accessed on August 5, 2016
Coordinates: 37 ° 47 '17 " N , 122 ° 24' 13" W.