Description: A young newsboy drops coins from one
hand into another. Under his left arm he holds a bundle of papers
and over his shoulder is swung a blacking kit. At his feet, sits a
dog. The Newsboy Drinking Fountain was presented to the City of
Detroit by James E. Scripps, with an estimated cost of $3,500. The
occasion for the unveiling was the Newsboy's outing. On July 6,
1897, about 5,000 newsboys flocked to Belle Isle from Detroit,
Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Ann Arbor and Jackson. Mayor Maybury gave
a speech and ended the outing by granting the bronze newsboy a
formal license to sell papers and giving the dog a tag. Games
followed (THE DETROIT NEWS, July 7, 1897.) The interior of the stone
fountain is inscribed "The Evening News to the/ Newsboys of
Detroit." The Newsboy has been stolen twice---once in 1966, and
again in 1974. A $100 reward was offered for his return. The
fountain was restored in 1997, and a replacement of the original
newsboy figure was installed. A standing plaque commemorates the
restoration: " 'PARTNERS'/ Newsboy and His Dog/ Original Sculptor/
Frederick Dunbar, 1897/ Newsboy Sculptor/ Janice B. Trimpe, 1997/
The 1997 renovation was made possible/ through the efforts of a
grant from the/ Gannett Foundation and donations by/ the Detroit
Recreation Department/ Janice B. Trimpe, Center for Creative/
Studies and Venus Bronze Works, Inc." The plumbing works are no
longer there.
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