05/30/2026
The Artifact: A Photograph of Vanished Park
In the summer of 1936--ninety years ago--the people of Saginaw were celebrating a victory, their protests had been heard in Washington D.C. and their beloved Federal Building--now known as the Castle Building--was saved from demolition. The expansion of the building would cover a small park that had been developed by the city between Hoyt Library and the Federal Building. It would require the relocation of the park’s focal point, a fountain.
The paper reported:
“Fountain to be Moved From Federal Park. In preparation for the beginning of the construction[expansion] of the new postoffice, City Manager Cookingham has instructed Director Eckert of the public works department to rush the job of removing from Federal park the soldiers’ memorial fountain erected there more than 30 years ago by Gov. Aaron T. Bliss. He also will remove the standards bearing lights that illuminate the park.
The Bliss memorial fountain will be removed to Bliss park, probably somewhere along its Michigan Avenue frontage.” (The Saginaw Sunday News, July 12, 1936.)
In an exhibit at the Castle Museum, we provide a history of the fountain:
“Mr. Mayor, I turn over to you, as representing the people of Saginaw, this fountain, and may you guard and protect it as long as you are in power to do, and delegate to your successors its careful maintenance.” (Gov A.T. Bliss to Mayor W.B. Baum on September 11, 1902.)
On May 24, 1902, the Saginaw Courier Herald announced that Governor A.T. Bliss’s donation of a Civil War memorial fountain was to be erected in Federal Park in his home city, Saginaw. Manufactured by the J.L. Mott Iron works, it stood an imposing 13 feet and 3 inches. The base was elaborately ornamented with an amazing combination of dolphin heads, shells, ferns and much more. The news reported “The crowning feature of the fountain is a life-size statue of a federal soldier in full uniform as worn during the civil war. Unlike the other parts of the fountain, the statue has a highly polished surface.”
The fountain was the centerpiece of Federal Park –located between Hoyt Library and the Castle Building. At times, there was discussion about transferring the monument to Bliss Park; however, Governor Bliss and Mrs. Bliss, after his death, were adamant that the fountain and the park were separate donations, and the fountain should stay in the business district.
When the United States Post Office (now the Castle Museum) was enlarged in 1936, Federal Park was taken to accommodate the expansion – the building was more than doubled in size. The fountain was relocated to Bliss Park. The News stated that it had “been polished and repainted after the wear and tear of 34 years of weather.” In November 1940, the fountain was destroyed by a windstorm. Although damaged, the figure of a Union Soldier was salvaged and placed on a new concrete base in 1941. However, within a couple of years the figure was vandalized, and the remaining portions of the statue were disposed of as scrap during a wartime drive. All that remained to mark the existence of the fountain were photographs and the forlorn, empty plinth in Bliss Park.
However, it turns out that the story has a slightly different ending. When the remains of the statue were taken to the salvage yard, William Rifkin saw the damaged remains as something special and was reluctant to recycle them. The pieces of the figure remained in his warehouse for many years, until Rifkin Scrap Metal and Iron donated the parts to the museum.
The statue is now exhibited in the rear entrance of the Castle Museum – only a few feet from where it was originally located. To learn more about the monument and see the statue in person, visit the museum seven days a week.
