Babylon Fountain Re-Creation

The Stewart Iron Works tradition is one of enduring quality and value, with nearly 150 years of artistry in metal. Our ultimate goal is to create a setting with timeless appeal. Ornamental metalwork set the welcoming for our most recent project on the East Coast.

Stewart Iron Works, Inc was contacted by the City of Babylon, New York regarding their “old town fountain”. The original fountain was installed in 1897, for a cost of $400.  The original fountain was presented to the City of Babylon by the Babylon Women’s Exchange. Over 100 years later, the citizens of Babylon, NY are working to restore the historic aspects of their city.  As this fountain appears in many city photographs, a fund was started for the replacement of this historic landmark. The fountain was destroyed years earlier.  The new fountain will be place in front of the old village library, now the headquarters of the Babylon Historical Society.

And so the search began for a company with the experience and expertise to replicate this exact fountain in its original form. Stewart Iron Works was contacted by the city of Babylon in regards to this project. Stewart Iron Works is one of the few companies in the United States with the expertise in historic restoration and preservation involving historic metal castings. For many years Stewart Iron Works has been restoring products manufactured early in the company’s over 120 year history, as well as similar historic products made by other companies.

During the completion of all the projects completed by Stewart Iron Works over the years, an archival library of these historic ironwork pieces, accompanying literature and drawings have been developed. The fountain from the city of Babylon is one of the many entries in the archival library.
After a great deal of research regarding their fountain, Babylon, NY learned that their fountain was purchased from a dealer in 1897 that sold Stewart Iron Works products. Upon learning that Stewart was the original creator of the fountain, Babylon contacted Stewart Iron Works with their request. Stewart Iron Works went to work searching their archives for a casting or pattern from which to recreate this fountain. Finding none, they went to the city of Ligonier, PA to request the use of their structure from which to make a mold and pattern. They generously consented to have Stewart Iron Works remove their fountain as it stood in the park at center of the city.The fountain was trucked back to Stewart Iron Works and the work began recreating the elements of the fountain.

The fountain was disassembled and a mold of each piece of the Ligonier fountain was created. From these molds, two part patterns and core boxes were created to precisely resemble the previous fountain’s structure of a woman feeding a dove and intricate pattern on the interior and exterior of the fountain’s base. The creation of a pattern is a complicated process that requires a great deal of skill that only a Master Pattern Maker can offer. The pattern must be created to compensate for the shrinkage of the metal during the casting process as well as to capture all of the detail of the reproduced item. The expertise of Stewart Iron Works is sought after in this capacity, as they are one of the few companies that has a Master Pattern Maker on staff with the knowledge to achieve a flawless final product.

The pattern for the fountain is currently at the foundry where a casting is being made for each piece of the structure. After the casting is complete the fountain will return to Stewart Iron Works for grinding and polishing. The structure will them be assembled in place in Babylon, New York. The fountain from Ligonier has been returned to its original location and restored to reflect its original beauty.