Chi Omega Fountain

Title

Chi Omega Fountain

Artist

Catherine Sherman

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

"Chi Omega Fountain, University of Kansas" by Catherine Sherman.


The iconic Chi Omega fountain stands at the west end of Jayhawk Boulevard on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence. The fountain was authorized in October 1952 as a memorial to alumnae on the 50th anniversary of the founding of Lambda chapter at KU. Behind the fountain is the Chi Omega chapter house.

I'll always have fond memories of this fountain and house, where I lived during my undergraduate years at KU as a member of Chi Omega.

According to KU, the chapter house on West Campus Road was designated in 2016 as a landmark on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places. The Tudor-style house was originally designed by Topeka architect Walter Earl Glover and constructed in 1925. The house was expanded in 1964.

Designer of the plaques on the fountain was James L. Bass, then a student of noted professor and sculptor Elden C. Tefft. The plaques embody aspects of the Eleusinian myth surround the octagonal tank: an owl; the figure of Hades; a pomegranate; Persephone and Hades; wheat; Demeter and Persephone; carnations; and a gift plaque.
The Indiana limestone fountain is based on one at a manor in Northumberland, England; the pool is 12 feet in diameter, and three spigots spill water into a bowl mounted on the 7-foot shaft above the octagonal tank. It was fabricated by Erkins Studios of New York and dedicated April 23, 1955.

Founded in 1895 at the University of Arkansas, Chi Omega is the largest women’s fraternal organization in the world with over 350,000 initiates,180 collegiate chapters, and more than 240 alumnae chapters.

Featured in "Images That Excite You" group (05/15/2017); "Midwest America Photography" group (01/08/2024)

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May 14th, 2017

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