State grant boosts restoration fund for Lithia Park landmark by $20,000
By Emma Coke, Ashland.news
The fundraising campaign for the restoration of the historic Butler-Perozzi fountain in Lithia Park is nearing completion following a $20,000 grant awarded by the State Historic Preservations Office’s Preserving Oregon Grant Program.
The Ashland Parks Foundation fundraising campaign launched on the Fourth of July last year has raised $740,000 through local donations. The grant money has brought the fundraising campaign 93% of the way to its goal of raising $800,000, leaving Mike Gardiner, president of the Ashland Parks Foundation, hopeful they could have the fountain restored by next year.
Across the state, 11 other properties were awarded the preservation grant and six properties were awarded grants for facade restoration. Southern Oregon University was also awarded a $20,000 grant for their archaeology investigation of the Maxville site in Wallowa County, a ghost town that was home to white and African-American loggers.
Applicants had to answer a list of questions regarding their property, business plan and their restoration timeline. Grants were approved by the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation.
“This preservation grant is an integral part of the money that we’re raising for the actual marble fountain — it’s designated for just that,” Gardiner said.
Specifically, the grant money will go toward the restoration cost of more than $130,000 for the restoration of the fountain’s central column and bowls. The overall fundraising goal includes estimated costs for the overall facility — the terrace, the stairs, the lights and the plumbing, Gardiner said.
With fundraising nearing completion, planning for the restoration has begun.
The Ashland Parks Foundation will meet with a consultant team Thursday and Friday this week to scope out the project’s details. Gardiner said they expect to have a bid package ready to go by this January, and hopefully have contractors under contract by next April.
Gardiner hopes to have construction done by the Fourth of July next year, a special day in the fountain’s history as it was unveiled to the public on July 4, 1916.
The funds raised are not just for restoring the fountain. To prevent such a costly restoration in the future, $200,000 will be set aside for ongoing maintenance.
“That plan will specify, like, every year you might do a particular thing, every month you might do a particular thing .… If the concrete work is starting to deteriorate around, you would have funds available to bring someone in as soon as you needed to repair something,” Gardiner said.
How you can help
To make a donation to the Ashland Parks Foundation’s Butler-Perozzi Fountain restoration, click here.
In the past, repairs haven’t always been done, Gardiner said, because there wasn’t enough money to cover costs, let alone enough to pay for specialists.
“Our parks facilities people are awesome individually, but they don’t necessarily have all of the expertise for a 100-year-old marble fountain,” Gardiner said.
The maintenance fund will help ensure the fountain is in tip-top shape for years to come.
“All of Lithia Park is special to me. I look at the historic photos from the nineteen-teens to see what earlier individuals did for our community,” Gardiner said. “You know, people donated land to build Lithia Park. Butler and Perozzi donated this fountain to the community.”
“(The Butler-Perozzi fountain) has this iconic message of not only history,” Gardiner said, “but the cultural beauty of Ashland.”
Email Ashland.news reporter intern Emma Coke at emmasuecoke@gmail.com.
July 25: Maintenance fund amount corrected; it’s $200,000, not $150,000. Story also clarified to reflect that state grant funds would be applied to, not cover entirely, cost of the fountain’s central column and bowls.
