A fountain for the crown jewel
by
Bill Miller for the Mail Tribune
Monday,
July 15th 2019
Here’s a history riddle for
you dedicated snoopers: What do an Italian sculptor, a Swiss dairyman, and a
native Southern Oregonian real estate investor have in common?
One answer is certainly
Ashland’s Lithia Park.
Although he probably never
heard of Ashland, Antonio Frilli was a world-famous Florentine sculptor of
Italian marble who, for years, exhibited throughout the United States. However,
even if he had heard of Oregon and the Granite City, he still wouldn’t have
suspected that a piece of his art would permanently find its way into the
city’s “crown jewel,” Lithia Park.
No one seems to know when
Frilli was born; however, he first opened his studio in about 1860. It’s
believed he died in 1902.
Most likely his son, Umberto,
brought his father’s work to the International Panama-Pacific Exposition, a
sort of world’s fair held in San Francisco from February to December 1915.
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| Butler-Perozzi Fountain, Ashland, Oregon |
At the end of October 1915,
Gwin Samuel Butler and his wife left Ashland for a “tour through California”
and a visit to the San Francisco Exposition. However, his two-week excursion to
the Exposition was more than just a tourist visit.
Butler was born in January
1854 on his father’s land claim, just east of the intersection of N. Pacific
Highway and Sage Road in Medford. After graduating from the Ashland Normal
School (today’s SOU), he turned to ranching and other businesses, eventually
amassing more than enough money to invest in property in Jackson County.
By 1914, Ashland residents
had approved funding to develop a park and a commission was trying to acquire
the necessary land — particularly the land owned by Gwin Butler and Domingo
“D.” Perozzi. When the commissioners asked the men for a purchase price, they
got a big surprise.
“In replay to your request
for a price on that certain tract of land owned by us,” wrote Butler and
Perozzi, “we have the following to offer:
“We will donate the said
property to the city of Ashland for park purposes, provided that there shall be
the sum of $3,000 placed in the hands of a trustee for the erection of a
memorial fountain to be built in the park. Very truly, G.S. Butler, D. Perozzi.”
Perozzi was born in
Switzerland in February 1871, and emigrated to the U.S. with his parents when
still a young child. He arrived in Ashland in 1897 and purchased the Ashland
Creamery that he operated for many years. For the rest of his life he remained
actively involved in the dairy industry of the valley.
When the park was nearly
ready, Butler left for the San Francisco Exposition looking for a fountain. He
thought he had found it in a piece of Verona marble carved by Antonio Frilli.
He telegraphed Perozzi to come and see it. Perozzi loved it and the two men
closed the deal.
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| Butler-Perozzi Fountain, Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon |
Shipped from San Francisco,
the 12,000-pound fountain arrived in Ashland in March 1916. It would take three
trucks to carry the disassembled fountain to the construction site. The Italian
expert who came to supervise installation seemed quite happy with the progress,
although he couldn’t speak English. Perozzi had to translate instructions to
Butler with Butler trying to translate the expert’s various and confusing hand
and arm gestures.
The Butler-Perozzi Memorial
Fountain was unveiled, dedicated and presented to the city on the 4th of July
in 1916, with appropriate remarks, band music, and “the young flower girls,”
led by Perozzi’s 12-year-old daughter, Lucile.
The fountain has survived
vandalism, maintenance issues and required restoration over the past 103 years,
and if the city of Ashland can fund another restoration, the first in 32 years,
it may remain for another century or more.
Writer Bill Miller is the
author of “History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history columns and
stories. Reach him at newsmiller@live.com or WilliamMMiller.com.
