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The first decorative fountain in the United States was dedicated in City Hall Park, in New York City, in 1842. Early American fountains were used to distribute clean drinking water, had little ornament, and copied European styles. In the 20th century, American fountains often ceased to distribute drinking water and became purely decorative, and were designed to honor events or individuals, as works of urban sculpture, or to imitate nature. In the late 20th century, the musical fountain, where the dance of water is controlled by a computer and is accompanied by lights and music, became a form of public entertainment in Las Vegas and other American cities. == 1800-1900 == Philadelphia built the first city-wide water system in the United States, which began operation in January 1801. Underground aqueducts carried drinking water from the Schuylkill River, and twin steam pumps propelled it into a water tower at Centre Square, now the site of Philadelphia City Hall. Scottish-born architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe designed the system along with the Greek Revival pumping house/water tower.〔("Benjamin Latrobe Designs the first American Steam-Powered Municipal Waterworks," ) from ''This Week in History'', January 2012, The Schiller Institute.〕 Centre Square was converted from a meadow into a public park, and an ornamental fountain was added, 1808–1809. Sculptor William Rush carved a wooden statue, ''Allegory of the Schuylkill River'' (better known as ''Water Nymph with Bittern''), to adorn the Centre Square fountain.〔(''Head of the Nymph'' ), from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.〕 The first monumental fountains in the United States were built to mark the termini of aqueducts bringing fresh drinking water into New York City. A cholera epidemic in 1832 and a disastrous fire in 1835 persuaded the government of New York City to build the Croton aqueduct to bring abundant fresh water into the city. The Croton Dam, aqueduct and reservoir in New York were finished in 1841, bringing water forty miles from the Croton River to New York City. The first fountain in the U.S., the Croton Fountain in City Hall Park, was turned on on October 14, 1842, and jetted water fifty feet into the air.〔Ric Burns and James Sanders, ''New York, an Illustrated History'', Alfred Knopf, New Yorkm, 1999, pg. 78-79.〕 A second fountain in Union Square was also connected to the system. The first fountains were very simple, without sculpture, simply spouting water up into the air. They no longer exist, though vestiges of the original water system remain.〔Marilyn Symmes with Maria Ann Conelli, "Fountains as Refreshment", in the collection ''Fountains- Splash and Spectacle, Water and Design from the Renaissance to the Present''. Thames and Hudson, London, 1998.〕 In 1848 Boston completed its own new water system, an aqueduct from Lake Cochituate twenty miles (32 km) to the Boston Common, where the first fountain was located. A parade and festival were held to mark the opening of the fountain on October 25, 1848. The ceremony included schoolchildren singing an ode written by American poet James Russell Lowell for the event. The ode began: "My name is Water: I have sped through strange dark ways untried before, By pure desire of friendship led, Cochituate's Ambassador: He sends four gifts by me, Long life, health, peace, and purity."〔Quoted by Marilynn Symmes and Maria Ann Conelli in Fountains, Splash and Spectacle. Pg. 45.〕 The first American fountains were simple and functional. Later, in the 1850s, new more decorative fountains appeared as part of a nationwide effort to beautify American cities by building parks, squares and fountains, inspired by European models. The Bethesda Fountain was created to adorn New York City's new Central Park, which had been begun in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, to create a vast natural landscape in the heart of the city. In the middle of the park was one formal element; a mall with elm trees, and a terrace with views over a lake. In 1863 the Park Commissioners decided to build a monumental fountain for the central basin in the middle of the mall. The sculptor was a little-known American artist, Emma Stebbins, whose brother was the head of the New York Stock Exchange and President of the Board of Commissioners, who lobbied on her behalf. Her fountain was based on the biblical verse from the Gospel of Saint John, in which an Angel touched, or "troubled" the waters of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, giving it healing powers. She wrote about the fountain: "We have no less healing, comfort and purification freely sent to us through the blessed gift of pure, wholesome water, which to all the countless homes of this great city comes like an angel visitant."〔Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, 'American Women Sculptors: A History of Women Working in Three Dimensions'', Chicago, 1990, pg. 63-66. Cited in "The Bethesda Fountain in New York City", article by Andrew Scott Dolkart in ''Fountains- Splash and Spectacle, Water and Design from the Renaissance to the Present'', by Marilynn Symmes.〕 It was criticized by some writers when it was opened in 1873- the ''New York Times'' called it "a feebly-pretty idealess thing",〔"The Bethesda Fountain", ''The New York Times'', June 1, 1873.〕 but gradually the fountain became a popular favorite, featured in many films and in recent times in the play Angels in America by Tony Kushner.〔Tony Kushner - ''Angels in America part two'', Perestroika, New York, 1994, pp. 143-146. Cited by Andrew Scott Dolkart in ''Fountains - Splash and Spectacle''.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of fountains in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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