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"One of the most conspicuous objects on Boston Common, standing near
the wall at Park and Tremont Streets, is the Brewer Fountain.
The fountain was a gift to the city by Gardner Brewer, which began to
function
for the first time on June 3, 1868. It is a copy, in bronze, of a fountain
designed by French artist Liénard [Jean Auguste Edouard Liénard,
most likely]. The fountain was sculpted for the Paris
Word's Fair of 1855 [Exposition Universelle de 1855], where it was awarded a
gold medal.
The great figures at the base represent Neptune [Roman god of water and sea] and Amphitrite
[Greek sea goddess], Acis [spirit of Acis River by Roman Poet Ovid] and
Galatea [Roman sea nymph]. The fountain was cast in Paris, brought to this country, and set up at the sole expense of the public-spirited donor.
Copies of iron were made for the cities of Lyons and Bordeaux; and an exact
copy, in bronze, was made for Said Pacha, a
late Viceroy of Egypt. About Gardner Brewer, he was born in
Boston in 1800 and died in Newport, RI in 1874. He
was one of the wealthiest and most liberal of Boston merchants. After
attaining his maturity he was for some time a distiller, but afterward
engaged in the dry-goods trade, and founded the house of Gardner Brewer &
Co., which represented some of the largest mills in New England, and had
branches in New York and Philadelphia.
In the dry-goods business, by accurate method combined
with great sagacity, he accumulated a fortune which, at his death, was
estimated at several million dollars.
Mr. Brewer at one time took an active part in politics as
a Republican. He was also a strong protectionist, and took great interest in
the industrial development of the country. He used his large wealth
liberally for the public good, and shortly before his death gave to the city
of Boston [this] beautiful fountain, which stands on an angle on Boston Common.
His residence, on the site of the house of
John Hancock, was one of the
finest private dwellings in the city. The
Great
Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed the old warehouse of the
firm; but before the end of 1873 a new building, one of the costliest in
Boston, was erected on its site. Mr. Brewer died at his seaside villa in
1874.
Mr. Brewer had also donated some rare books to the
Museum of Fine Arts.
On the inner front were labels bearing his name and the motto: "Memor
et Fidelis," which translates to "Mindful and Faithful."
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