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The Prismatic Electric Fountain
Denver, Colorado ~ City Park ~ Ferril Lake ~ Dedicated May 30, 1908
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Airbrushed and colored post card from 1912 showing the prismatic lighting effect created by the arc lights and colored filters
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Some things
are meant to be timeless…
Imagine gathering your family for a visit to City Park on a warm summer Saturday night. The evening is pleasant and you find a place on the new seat wall at the edge of Ferril Lake that is just perfect. The crowd is filled with anticipation as dusk settles.. The Denver Municipal Band strikes up a tune and the waters of Ferril Lake explode with geysers of water and a blaze of colored lights. For the next hour you are mesmerized by the interplay of music, water and lights.
We have the opportunity to re-create a delightful family experience that was first presented to the City of Denver on May 30, 1908. Generations of Denver citizens and visitors have marveled at this wonderful sight. Of course there will a few changes in the music, but isn't this just the kind of civic amenity that makes living in Denver so very special?
Please help bring performances of the Prismatic Electric Fountain back to summer nights in Denver. Have fun pointing out to your family and friends which nozzles YOU contributed to the reconstruction of this wonderful Denver landmark.
The Friends of the Electric Fountain is a group of individuals and organizations advocating the reconstruction of the Fountain for the centennial of its dedication on May 30, 2008. Take a look around this web site to learn more about the Electric Fountain and how you can help.
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PLEASE NOTE:
The Friends of the Electric Fountain web site is always under construction.
We will have more information to post about our partners for the fund-raising campaign in 2007.
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Why the name Prismatic Electric Fountain ?
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The name "Electric Fountain" was given to a number of fountains built when the age of electricity was just starting. Some of these Electric Fountains were designed by a brilliant electrical engineer and inventor by the name of
F.W. Darlington. Research has uncovered fountains designed by Darlington as early as 1893. Some of the newspaper accounts of the time refer to "polychrome
lighting" in the glowing descriptions of the dramatic new lighting effects.
However, the Electric Fountain in Ferril Lake at Denver City Park seems to be the only one to have the word Prismatic added to the name. The first place this terminology showed up is in Municipal Facts, a publication put out by the City of Denver. Early post cards like the one above, illustrated (with some careful air-brushing and hand coloring) the rainbow of colored lighting effects on the water, as if generated by the sun shining through a prism.
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Visitors since
April 24, 2006
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