‘People can enjoy it’: Naperville fountain revived after major repairs

For the first time in recent memory, a revived Memories Fountain anchors a Naperville Riverwalk park.

The Exchange Club Memories Fountain, as it’s formally called, was the subject of major repairs in a park dedicated to one of Naperville’s most influential families and east of the new Washington Street bridge.

“I'm really happy that it's there. I'm glad it's back on. I'm glad people can enjoy it,” said Jan Erickson, chairwoman of the city’s Riverwalk Commission.

The fountain — more accurately, a series of mini fountains — is surrounded by memorial granite stones and bricks in Fredenhagen Park.

“Those bricks, they tell the stories of so, so many different people,” Erickson said. “There are memorial bricks in there for loved ones, including loved pets. There are milestones that are commemorated there, births and deaths … even a wedding proposal is on those bricks, so it is truly Memories Fountain.”

It took quite an effort to repair it. The fountain had not been running since 2021, Andy Hynes, deputy director of the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department, confirmed via email.

A large portion of the water supply lines needed to be replaced, which required the removal of a significant portion of the fountain and replacement of the waterproof liner, according to Hynes.

The commission considered other options — “so many different choices, and for many, many months, actually,” Erickson said — and ultimately decided that the fountain should be repaired and put back to its original state.

The fountain repair contract was awarded at a cost of $423,600. The city council’s decision was not unanimous.

“I personally think a static option of public art would be a more cost-effective long-term solution, and it would be more visible as you're coming over our brand new beautiful bridge,” said former Councilwoman Allison Longenbaugh, who, along with current Councilmen Josh McBroom and Nate Wilson, voted “no” in May 2024.

Then-Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor, however, made a case for the project.

“This is seen as beautification to many, but beautification is what brings people to our downtown Naperville,” she said.

The total value of the work completed was $442,060. Painting work at two others — the Horse Trough Fountain and Dandelion Fountain — was done by Naperville Park District staff, Hynes wrote, allowing those funds to be put toward the additional work on the Fredenhagen fountain.

The late Rita Fredenhagen Harvard and her brother Ted donated the land for the park to further the development of the Riverwalk. The site was once home to their family’s ice cream shop.

As his obituary notes, Ted worked with their father, Walter Fredenhagen, in the family business, Prince Castle Ice Cream. It expanded and became none other than Cock Robin, whose tin-foiled wrapped burgers, square ice cream scoops and tuxedo-wearing bird logo are anything but a distant memory.

Speaking of burgers, the master plan for the Riverwalk calls for transforming a triangular-shaped property next to the retro Burger King into a “stunning new Riverwalk attraction.”

“That will be another park,” Erickson said. “There'll be a ramping that continues underneath the Washington Street bridge, and up back behind Burger King by the Moser Bridge, that covered bridge that's back there. It's just going to be really lovely.”

· Daily Herald staff writer Christopher Placek and correspondent Alicia Fabbre contributed to this report