We have a winner in our fountain contest. He correctly identified the Allen Memorial Fountain at 320 Nichols Road.
The first winner of our on-going fountains contest is Midtown resident Michael Boyd, who wins two tickets to Jiggle Jam Family Music Festival over Memorial Day weekend.
He correctly identified the picture as from the Allen Memorial Fountain at 320 Nichols Road.
The fountain done by artist S. Gemignani was imported from Italy in 1962 and dedicated to Jesse Clyde Nichol’s daughter and son-in-law, Earl and Eleanor Nichols Allen, who died in a 1961 house fire at their Mission Hills home.
Allen was an architect with the Nichols Company known for his work on homes in the Country Club district and for planning and placing rare public art objects.
The fountain is seen as a tribute to motherhood.
A partial picture of another Midtown fountain will be run on each Wednesday until May 8, with winners announced the following Mondays. The festival tickets are awarded courtesy of the City of Fountains Foundation.
The contest gives people a chance to show off knowledge of Midtown and is intended to raise awareness of the legacy of fountains in a city that is dripping with them.
Kansas City is said to have more fountains than any city but Rome but about half of the 48 fountains need work. Just the eight most in need will take about $2.7 million to repair, money that the foundation is attempting to raise through private and corporate donations.
Donations can be sent to City of Fountains Foundation, 4049 Central, 64111.
Who’s talking