The Buckingham Fountain is one of the many landmarks associated with the great city of Chicago. It is located in Grant Park which is in the heart of downtown Chicago. Grant Park is considered the city's 'front lawn' because the fountain is surrounded by a traditionally maintained English garden. Buckingham is one of the world's largest fountains and towers 23 feet in the air with three basin layers. These basins are surrounded by four pairs of seahorses made from bronze. The fountain symbolizes Lake Michigan, and the pairs of seahorses represent each of the states which border the lake – Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.
The construction for the Buckingham Fountain was funded by Kate Buckingham in 1927 to honor the memory of her brother, Clarence Buckingham. Kate Buckingham spent much of her life as a world traveler. She greatly admired the elaborate public fountains she found in her travels, and in her brother's memory, she wanted to bring a bit of her travels to the states. As she had particularly admired the Bassin de Latome at the Versailles Palace just outside Paris, she commissioned Edward H. Bennett to build a similar fountain. Bennett championed water and park features, like those in Grant Park, to be built throughout United States. During the course of his life, Bennett's other artistic endeavors included the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and city plans for Detroit, Portland, Oregon, Brooklyn, and Ottawa. The bronze seahorse sculptures that adorn the fountain were created for Bennett by Marcel F. Loyau. For his work on the Buckingham Fountain, he was the recipient of the Prix National in the 1927 Paris Salon.
The fountain has three pumps which power 133 jets, and the central jet forces water 150 feet in the air. It measures 280 feet in diameter, contains 1.4 million gallons of water, and pumps 14,000 gallons of water per minute. The Buckingham Fountain is one of the first to have an integrated lighting system and currently contains 820 lights. During the months between April and November, the fountain has a large water display every 20 minutes between ten am and nine pm. Light shows occur at nine pm and run for about 60 large fountain minutes. The Buckingham Fountain is drained during the winter months to prevent damage from freezing water.
Whether you are a native Chicago resident or just a visitor who is passing through, the Buckingham Fountain is a great diversion from Chicago's busy skyline and offers a bit of European charm in the middle of the Windy City.