Fountain for Company H

Today's adventure takes us back to downtown Portland's Lownsdale Square again, this time to an ornate century-old drinking fountain on the 4th Avenue side of the park, which the city describes as:

Another memorial dedicated to the men killed in service in the Philippines, Fountain for Company H, was installed in 1914. It was donated by the mothers, sisters, and wives of the men in Company H of the Second Oregon Volunteers. John H. Beaver, an architectural draftsman, won the honor of designing the limestone fountain and a $50 prize in a citywide contest.

This is yet another of the city's numerous Spanish-American War memorials, which include the Soldiers Monument at the center of Lownsdale Square, the Battleship Oregon Memorial in Waterfront Park, and a monument in Lone Fir Cemetery. (The latter is primarily a Civil War memorial, but includes a nod to various other conflicts up to 1903 when it was built, including the Indian Wars.) I've heard that yet another monument exists somewhere in the West Hills near the VA Hospital, but I don't know a lot about that one.

The fountain was unveiled on September 2nd, 1914. Much of the Oregonian article about the dedication is the text a poem read at the dedication, an earnest prayer for peace. It's worth noting that World War I had begun just a month earlier.