It may be just a fountain, but in many ways, it’s so much more. The icon of downtown Nantucket was donated to the town anonymously in 1885 and erected in its original location near the intersection of Main and Centre streets in 1886. The iron fountain was first a basin for people, horses, and dogs to drink from, with water flowing 24 hours per day, all year round.

Years later it was moved to its current location on lower Main Street near the Pacific Club, where it has stood for more than a century. It became part of the fabric of the island’s historic downtown, and although the water stopped around 1935, the fountain has remained. Today, it is decorated for each season by the Nantucket Garden Club and has been the backdrop for countless photos and paintings of the island’s beloved, cobblestoned Main Street.

When the fountain was violently destroyed by a pickup truck speeding up Main Street at 40 mph on a quiet evening last October, the island was shocked. Sure, it had been toppled before on several occasions by motor vehicles. But not like this. What appeared to be an intentional act—all of which was caught on Fisher Real Estate’s main street camera—eventually led to a probable cause hearing in Nantucket District Court. But the suspect was never charged. The clerk magistrate determined police did not have enough evidence to establish probable cause that the suspect was behind the wheel when the Chevy Silverado struck the fountain, shattering it into pieces.

And so the fall and winter passed with a hole in the heart of downtown Nantucket and frustration simmering over the fact that no one had been held accountable for the destruction of the fountain. While the town put up a Christmas tree in its place for a few weeks, and the Garden Club subsequently erected a few decorated barrels, there was no suitable replacement for what had been lost.

In the week after the fountain was destroyed, the town engaged the Plymouth, Massachusetts-based Bartlett Consolidated, a company that provides services to public property owners to assist in “the repair and restitution of roadway appurtenances damaged in vehicular crashes.” Under the agreement between the town and Bartlett Consolidated, the company completed the repairs and is authorized to pursue and recoup its costs from the owner of the vehicle: Michael Holdgate. Bartlett Consolidated transported the fountain off-island and it was repaired by Cassidy Bros. Forge in Rowley, Massachusetts. The Cassidy Bros. Forge team spent weeks “performing intricate welding repairs on the fountain,” according to the town. “This included extensive stitch welding and brazing, followed by re-plumbing for water and electrical connections. The fountain was then steel grit blasted using refrigerated dry air and painted with Navy-grade marine paint to protect against corrosion. A custom light fixture from Penn Globe was added to complete the restoration.”

According to Katie Cabral, the office manager and customer service representative for the town administration, “The only ‘cost’ to the town was the time spent by DPW staff on-site the day of the accident and the day of reinstallation, but no town funds were actually paid to anybody at all throughout this whole process.”

On June 3, crowds gathered on lower Main Street to watch as the fountain was reinstalled by a DPW crew and private contractors. Under blue skies with a celebratory vibe in the air, the three major pieces of the fountain were assembled, the wiring was connected, and within days, the women of the Nantucket Garden Club had it decked out and looking back to normal.

The return also provided an opportunity to reflect on the history of the fountain, the name it bears on a small plaque—Lt. Max Wagner Square—and its place in downtown Nantucket. Shortly after its destruction on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, the Nantucket Historical Association took the time to update its history of the fountain.

“In July 1932, the selectmen renamed the lower square on Main Street in memory of Lieutenant Max Wagner,” the NHA wrote. “A bronze plaque was placed on the fountain to mark the square’s new name. Wagner (1866–1900), originally from Charleston, S.C., came to Nantucket with the U.S. Signal Service and worked his way up to head of the Weather Bureau office located in the Pacific Club building. He married Mary Jennie Macy of Nantucket in 1890; they relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1897. At the start of the Spanish-American War, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Volunteer Signal Corps. He served in Puerto Rico and then in the Philippines, where he was killed. He was buried on Nantucket in Prospect Hill Cemetery and the idea of naming the lower square for him came from his friends who were members of the local post of the United Spanish War Veterans.

“As the need to water horses decreased, the fountain began in 1935 to be used as a location for seasonal decorations and flower displays,” continued the NHA’s history. “In recent years, the Nantucket Garden Club has kept the fountain filled with seasonal plant displays. Locals also took to calling it a ‘silent policeman’ after the traffic directions ‘Go to the right’ were painted on it. These were later painted over when traffic on lower Main Street became one-way.”

Last fall’s collision, while perhaps the most traumatic, was, the NHA emphasized, just the latest of at least 13 collisions that resulted in it being knocked over or dislodged over the years.

“In January 1944, a government truck struck it during a blinding snowstorm,” the NHA noted. “Motorists hit it again in July 1954, December 1957, July 1963, May 1966, November 1967, January 1969, April 1980, June 1985, May 1997, October 2012, March 2020, and October 2023.”



History certainly repeats itself, but let’s hope the fountain has a long run now without any further disruptions.