Tattnall Square Park to get new fountain

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The “crown jewel” of Macon is coming back to Tattnall Square Park.

At the center of Tattnall Square Park stands a lonely flagpole.

“We would like a center to this park that is worthy of this public space and worthy of the people of Macon,” Andrew Silver with Friends of Tattnall Square Park said.

There used to be a tall fountain there a hundred years ago. The water stopped flowing in 1934.

“Very few remember it working,” Silver said.

It was eventually removed in the 1960’s. But Macon’s crown jewel will reclaim her throne again.

“The restoration could not have been completed without the addition of this fountain that is historic to the park,” Silver said.

Silver announced the non-profit raised the $350,000 it needed to recreate the park’s original centerpiece. Several community organizations helped, including the Knight Neighborhood Challenge, Piedmont Construction Group, Sierra Development Corporation, Mercer University, and Friends of Tattnall Square Park.

“This fountain is being built to resemble the one that was here put in 1915, well here it is 2015, a hundred years later, and we’re putting the fountain back in the park,” Macon-Bibb Mayor Robert Reichert said.

41NBC met first grader Eliza Grace Wood last August. She raised almost $200 by selling her old books to help bring the fountain back.

“The fountain is going to make it really pretty,” Eliza Grace said.

“I think Eliza Grace provided some inspiration giving and we’re so excited to be here and celebrate the announcement that the fountain is coming back to Tattnall Square Park,” Julia Wood, Eliza Grace’s mother, said.

Silver hopes this new addition will bring joy to park goers.

“Every great public square, every great public park features moving water,” he said.

And bring Tattnall Square Park back to its full glory.

Silver expects to break ground on the new fountain soon. He hopes it will be finished by August.