FALL 2021


FLOWS THROUGH WINTHROP HISTORY


A Winthrop Centerpiece Built by skilled local contractors of the time, the current fountain was installed between 1912-1919 (historical records can’t pin down the exact date) and quickly became a feature of many student and university functions such as:


Monte Dunbar Remaley and Marian Dunbar Gillespie — both members of the Class of 1969 and affectionately known as “the Dunbar twins” — want to make something very clear: they were absolutely, positively, NOT the ones responsible whenever the Winthrop fountain’s water was dyed red over the years.


“From day one, we’ve always been blamed for it!” Marian said.


“I can’t even imagine why, although we are somewhat mischievous,” Monte added. “There were lots and lots of us who were involved and not just the Dunbar twins, by any stretch of the imagination.”


The Class of 1969 returns to campus every five years to celebrate its milestone reunions.


“Every time when we’re in Tillman Hall for reunion registration,” Monte explained, “at some point, one of the committee members would sidle up to someone from the Class of ’69 and say in a whispered tone, ‘Nobody will be guarding the fountain tonight between 10 and 12, if that information is important.’ We would say ‘OK, whatever that means, sure appreciate it.’ We knew we had a good time range we could work in. I mean, rumor has it, of course.”


Coincidentally, the fountain’s water would be a strikingly red hue the next day. Also coincidental: red is one of the Class of 1969’s official colors.


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The Dunbar twins were sorely disappointed during their most recent visit to campus when they realized they couldn’t continue their tradition. The current fountain’s basin will no longer hold water, and the plaster has severely cracked, meaning it needs to be completely replaced, an estimated $500,000 endeavor for the 100-plus-year-old campus fixture.


Enter the Fountain Restoration Project.


The Fountain Restoration Project will be funded by the generosity of alumni, community members and friends. The Classes of 1970-74 have also taken it on as their 50th reunion fundraising projects.


Besides the Dunbar twins’ alleged colorful “crimes,” other classes have dyed the fountain waters pink, blue or green, according to local newspaper articles. In 1966, a duck briefly made a home in the fountain, with students stopping by with bread to feed it.


*Daisy Chain Winthrop Founder and First President David Bancroft Johnson envisioned the Daisy Chain as an effort to promote Winthrop to state and local dignitaries and community members. Beginning in 1903, students gathered daisies and made them into a long chain with rope and ivy. They would march to the fountain, sing class songs, and then the senior class president would signify the passing of the senior rank to the junior class by giving her mortarboard to the junior class president.


*SGA President Dunking From the 1940-70s, the Student Government Association (SGA) and students assembled at the fountain to observe the installation of SGA officers and other campus organizations’ leaders – which usually ended with dunking the incoming SGA president in the fountain. In 1960, then-President Charles Davis was surprised by the students with a quick dip as well!


*Annual Tree Lighting Since 1935, the lighting of the large magnolia tree next to the fountain has signaled the start of the holiday season. Nowadays, the Winthrop Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Council host the event each December, when hundreds of attendees gather on the lawn, enjoy performances from the chorale and the Winthrop RockHettes, and join the countdown to the magnolia’s glow.


It’s also served as the backdrop for some funny stories.


And in the 1930s, then-Registrar Robert Haynes Jones was stunned when a colleague told him to look outside – where Jones saw his toddler gleefully skinny dipping in the fountain. The daughter in question, Jean Jones Park ’48, later wrote to the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections to recount her swimming expedition.


Springing Back to Life


FOUNTAIN FLOWS THROUGH WINTHROP HISTORY


This rendering depicts how the new fountain and its surrounding area will look.


Thanks to the generosity of donors, the fountain will one day come to life again and continue to be a signifi- cant asset to the Winthrop campus.


Architectural renderings show the new fountain will look similar to the current one, but with some notable changes. A study generously commissioned through an anonymous donor determined the cost and prac- ticality to redesign the existing fountain area and improve accessibility at the site. The redesigned area will include paved surfaces and provide seating. Acces- sibility at the site also will be improved by modifying the existing parking and replacing the existing side- walk. An arrangement of brick and concrete pavement associated with the new fountain will surround it and connect the fountain to the sidewalk, as well as allow- ing seating to surround the fountain.


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