The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 54

The Square 'Lights Up' Tomorrow BY BOB OTTO Area Development Reporter i AM WWW WW 4 The Queen City can stand a little taller, skip a heartbeat and blush with pride Saturday. It will be the day for placement of another jewel in her crown: NEW FOUNTAIN SQUARE, the people's place, at the hub of the central business district, Fifth and Vine Sts. It- will be exactly 98 years and 12 days after dedication of the first Fountain Square in the same general area. But for the 1969 dedication, everything has been changed except the form of the cherished centerpiece, the Tyler Davidson Fountain. Yet even it now faces west instead of east and its water dances more gracefully and with a stronger spirit under the persuasion of a new heart of modern machinery.

Henry Probasco, the grateful merchant, donated the fountain to the people of the city where he prospered and to memorialize Tyler Davidson, his brother-in-law and business partner. He had searched for years until he found a suitable gift detailed on dusty plans in Munich. THE SHADES OF all this and more will be part of the celebration and ceremony that are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a. m. Saturday when Erich Kunzel's baton wafts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra into the appropriate heroics of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger" overture.

The 30-minute dedication rite will start at noon with Mayor Eugene P. Ruehlmann as master of-ceremonies. Forty-two distinguished guests on the speakers platform will be welcomed by Pat Perin, "Miss Cincinnati of 1969." The speakers will include Gov. James A. Rhodes of Ohio, Fred Lazarus in, president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, and Francis L.

Dale, president and publisher of The Enquirer in his role as chairman of the Fountain Square Functions Committee. The flag raising will be conducted by a U. S. Marine Corps color guard and the invocation, dedication and benediction prayers pronounced by a trio of clergy. At a signal from Mayor Ruehlmann the fountain will be turned on officially, its bouncing, bubbling, foaming waters an accompaniment to the hour-long Symphony Orchestra concert that will follow.

From that time until dusk, the people AND EVERYBODY'S INVITED can soak up the beauties of new Fountain Square and listen to the songs and music nf their choice. The people, for whom Henry Probasco thirsted to provide fresh water in a setting of unusual beauty, might not be particularly interested for those moments in the fact that new Fountain Square cost or that work on it began December 11, 1967. They will no doubt eye the pretty girls in dresses of the Probasco period, watch local artists trying to catch the charms of the place on canvas, or saunter among the Cincinnati Historical Society's display of rare photos. They also will hope for next spring's blooming of the trees in the east and west groves, try to snatch seats on handsome teak-wood benches, squat on the low but broad marble walls flanking the square, and inspect the SignaTree bearing signatures of the first among many to establish a public fund for the promotion of sculptured works Throughout the afternoon and past sunset the music and songs will pulsate: the Cincinnati All City Boys' Chorus, the King's Men, Smittie's Band, Sing-Out Cincinnati and the climactic jazz-rock concert, featuring the Studio Big Band, the Sisters of the Righteous and the Promasons. It should be quite a day! i Ci I five- wriy 1 6, (if i 4 fa I'l 4 ft, I.

cinnati's famous fountain is shown on a test run in the yard of the royal foundry of Bavaria in Munich, Germany. There, Cincinnati businessman Henry Probasco had ended a search almost grail-like "for a permanent object of beauty and utility" as a gift to his city and a monument to his brother-in-law and partner, Tyler Davidson. The original browntone photo is the property of "Mrs. John Rowe, Indian Hill, who was Grace Probasco, the donor's daughter. The date, when this photo was taken is uncertain, though it is surmised that rt was in the late spring of 1S71 before the fountain was disassembled and, shipped to the United States.

The Munich firm whose photographer took the picture still was in business at the end of World War II. Before The Journey In this rare photo, never before published so far as is known, Cin 3.