DETROIT (WXYZ) — The iconic fountain that sits on Detroit’s Belle Isle will close to the public Monday and remain closed until May 2027 to undergo some major renovations.
Watch the report in the video player below:
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources gave 7 News Detroit a tour of what lies underneath the fountain to show us why building new concrete beams and replacing the aging plumbing and infrastructure is necessary to keep the 100-year-old landmark running.
The James Scott Memorial Fountain on Belle Isle is the place for families to gather, take photos and enjoy the park in the warmer months.
“I just love the scenery. I love being out here with my family. It’s beautiful," Nikishia Freeman, who frequents Belle Isle, said.
However, the fountain was built in 1925 and the infrastructure that lies underneath it is starting to crumble.
7 News Detroit was granted a tour and went underneath the fountain to where the water is pushed out of and maintained. The rust and the leaking gives away the structure’s age.
“Over here, it leaks on the electrical and over here, it leaks on the electrical," Michigan DNR Urban District Supervisor Tom Bissett said. "When the bowl is leaking, it’s creating mud underneath us and it’s just not very stable.”
Bissett says the Michigan DNR received another round of funding through the American Rescue Plan that they have to use up soon. Some of those dollars will go toward finishing up the new trail or tearing down old structures like the zoo, but $6 million of it will be going to fix up the fountain.
“When that bowl is structurally unsound, it could collapse and if it collapses, you’re not just talking about danger for anybody that’s down in this room but you could potentially lose the entire fountain," Bissett said.
A few years ago, maintenance work was done to the outside of the fountain, but there will still be some marble replacement and new LED lighting. For example, the lights that used to shine in the fountain were run-of-the-mill light bulbs submerged in water, so they were not very safe or sustainable.
"Part of that project is going to be to modernize that system, so that we can run LED lights through the bowl," Bissett added.
However, the majority of the work will focus underneath the fountain where structural work will be done to make sure the fountain can last another 100 years, and 100 more years of memories can be made.
The Michigan DNR recommends residents or graduates come down to the fountain this week and weekend to get all of photos taken before closures begin. Come Monday, the fountain and surrounding areas will be closed until the fountain reopens to the public in May of 2027.
