HYDE PARK — The Nichols Park fountain is spraying again for the first time in two years.
The south fountain at Nichols Park, 1355 E. 55th St., has had a difficult life. It has worked only intermittently and was presumed lost for 12 years, until it was rediscovered in a storage area under the stands at Soldier Field.
The fountain designed by sculptor Gary Wojcik was dry for two years until late last week when the Chicago Park District got the pump running again and the water flowing out of the tendril-like arms of the fountain.
“It makes such a world of difference,” said Stephanie Franklin, the president of the Nichols Park Advisory Council. “Just the noise of the water is enough to screen a lot of the 55th Street traffic noise, so now that space gets used.”
The sculpture is still about three feet too short though, Franklin said.
She said the sculpture is still missing a section of copper pipe that would have allowed the water to spray across more of the basin.
“I used to be able to walk under the largest arms of the fountain,” said Franklin, who is about 5 feet, 2 inches tall.
Jessica Maxey-Faulkner, a spokeswoman for the Park District, said the Park District is currently considering how best to fix the sculpture.
The sculpture was installed in 1989 with the help of the sculpture committee of Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference, which was commissioning art for parks across the neighborhood at the time.
Wojcik’s work was put into storage during that first winter and then, when summer rolled around in 1990, it simply couldn’t be found.
It took 12 years for Hyde Parkers to find it.
The sculpture was found in 2002 by Elmo Mitchell, a park supervisor, in a Park District storage area under the stands at Soldier Field, according to Franklin.
The old storage area was legendary for turning up odd treasures that many thought were destroyed.
In 1973, a Park District engineer discovered the last surviving pieces of the Phoenix Hall from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The structure, a meticulous reproduction of an 11th century Japanese temple, was thought to have been completely destroyed by a fire in 1945, until four carved wooden panels were found under the bleachers.
The storage area is presumed to have been removed when Soldier Field was renovated in 2003, but Faulkner wasn’t immediately able to say for sure.
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