Fountain Square tour – Fountain Square Roundie

We were given a tour of Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati and got to go underneath the fountain and up inside; great to see this Cincinnati icon in a brand new way.

Eric and Sarah inside the fountain

Many thanks to our City of Cincinnati hosts Don Eckhoff, Danny Lawson, and Earl Taggart for the tour, and to Joel Koopman for setting it up. They even gave us “fountain restoration keychains” for our project car! (The fountain was made in Munich, Germany, in 1871 and our “Roundie” project car was made in Munich 100 years later—which is how we got the name Fountain Square Roundie.)

Video of our tour

(Here's another “behind the scenes” video of the fountain from a local news station.)

Fountain Square is the city square; the fountain is the Tyler Davidson Fountain or The Genius of Water.

"The Genius of Water" is one of our favorite songs by the Cincinnati band Over the Rhine.

Thanks to Michael Wilson for most of the below photographs.

: Fountain Square, backside of fountain

: Listening to stories about the fountain (see video)

: fountain base

: exterior detail

: Exterior detail. We later stood inside the fountain, behind this panel.

: “Munich” detail

: About to go underneath

: Underneath the fountain. Many thanks to our City of Cincinnati hosts (left to right) Don Eckhoff, Danny Lawson, and Earl Taggart for the tour, and to Joel Koopman (not pictured) for setting it up.