Woodruff Place finds replacement statue in Germany for historic fountain
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — The east side’s Historic Woodruff Place neighborhood is known for its Victorian era homes, annual flea market and ornate stone fountains.
Some of the fountains, though, need work if they’re going to continue as a centerpiece for the community, which was founded in 1872.
The neighborhood has nine fountains: three large ones and six smaller ones. The fountains were installed in the late 1800s. But over the years, they’ve deteriorated.
The city repaired the larger ones in the ‘70s, but the smaller ones have continued to decline — and some of the statues have even disappeared over the decades. Where they went isn’t exactly clear.
“There’s all sorts of stories on what happened to the statues,” said Cynthia Longest, president of the Historic Woodruff Place Foundation. “For years and years, the small fountains just had some pumps in them, spurting water in the middle with the basins and the sump pumps.”
The Historic Woodruff Place Foundation is a nonprofit geared toward preserving the historic neighborhood. Since 2019, the neighborhood has committed to restoring three of the smaller fountains.
Work on two is complete, and the neighborhood has now found a replacement statue for the third fountain.
On south East Drive, the fountain once contained a statue called “Venus Rising from the Sea,” a cast iron statue featuring the Roman goddess Venus rising from the ocean. The foundation believes the statue was one of only a dozen cast in the late 1800s from a mold made by J.L. Mott Iron Works, the creator of many art pieces found in Woodruff Place. Earlier this year, a Woodruff Place neighbor discovered that an art dealer in Germany was in possession of one of the sister statues.
“We were afraid that if we didn’t go ahead and buy it, we would lose the opportunity,” Longest said. “We are never going to find another one, probably.”
The statue was purchased for a little more than $28,000 using money from the foundation and the neighborhood’s economic enhancement district funds. The statue is on its way to Indiana from Germany by ship, foundation treasurer Scotty Wilson said.
“We were fortunate to find this piece,” Wilson said. “It’s a large amount of money to be sure, but the cost of fabricating a new one would likely have been more than double.”
Wilson said there likely will be more work to be done once the statue arrives. The foundation will need to check what condition the statue is in and if any repairs or plumbing work needs to be done before the fountain can run again.
Longest said the fountain restorations aren’t just for Woodruff Place neighbors but for everyone in the community. In addition to fixing up the fountains, the foundation is adding benches to create public gathering spaces.
“Our neighborhood has steadily become a gathering place, not just for Woodruff Place but for a lot of the neighborhoods around it, which we welcome,” Longest said.
The Historic Woodruff Place Foundation hopes to use funds raised by its annual Preserving Our Future campaign to cover such restoration costs. The foundation said four neighbors have agreed to match $18,000 if an equal or greater amount can be raised by the end of the year. More information about the foundation and campaign can be found online.
The foundation also hopes to restore the remaining three smaller fountains in the future.
Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian.