The return of Frog Fountain

After an 18-month absence, the signature TCU landmark is back in front of the Student Center -- just in time for winter 2007 commencement.

By Mark Wright '07 (MS)

At last, it’s back.

After a conspicuous year-and-a-half absence, Frog Fountain has returned to its rightful place. The new-look TCU landmark was installed this morning at the north end of the Campus Commons.

The fountain was refurbished and its base redesigned as part of the $100 million Campus Commons project that is nearing completion.

The Campus Commons includes the newly opened Amon Carter Hall and Kellye Wright Samuelson Hall. The third and fourth new residence halls, Teresa and Luther King Hall and Mary and Robert J. Wright Hall, will open in time for the spring semester. And the new Brown-Lupton University Union is slated to open in summer 2008. As for the old Brown-Lupton Student Center, trustees recently decided to tear it down and replace it with a new academic building, Clarence and Kerry Scharbauer Hall. Elsewhere on campus, the new two-story TCU Barnes & Noble bookstore will open Jan. 7.

Although the fountain is part of the new living-learning environment, it’s like an old friend to anyone who attended TCU over the past 38 years. A gift from Mr. and Mrs. Houghton Phillips of San Antonio, Frog Fountain was placed in front of the student center in 1969.

The fountain, designed by Buck Winn, featured four lotus-petal flutes of varying heights from which water flowed out into a rock-lined pool. Horned frog images were originally set into the rock base, but weathering and vandalism caused their eventual disappearance.

Some in the TCU community deemed the fountain gaudy when it first arrived, but over the years, it attained an iconic status and arguably became the signature landmark on campus. Here’s proof: When the fountain was in storage, graduates and their families posed for pictures in front of a Frog Fountain backdrop.

Fans of the original fountain should be pleased with Frog Fountain Version 2.0.

“The flutes will be assembled in exactly the same manner as they were taken down; i.e., the high one and the low one will be in the same relative location as they were for all these past years,” said Harold Leeman, the TCU physical plant’s associate director of major projects.

You’ll notice some differences between the old and the new Frog Fountain, but Leeman said he thinks the TCU community will be pleased with the changes. The pool and seat wall have a new look and feel. Students can sit all around the fountain. And pavestone walkways are more accessible than with the previous fountain. The pool is bigger in diameter, and the fountain comes with LED lights that can shine in an assortment of colors – including purple.

The familiar lotus petals – which were chosen for the original fountain because of their symbolic association with education – look as good as new, and they basically are.  Earlier this fall, the old fountain parts underwent a thorough cleaning and refurbishing process. The main internal pipe was replaced. New copper cladding was added to the outside, and pumps, lighting and other equipment were replaced.

With now-unclogged pumps, the fountain can also produce a greater volume of water. Leeman said there is even “some bubbling action in and around the flutes that was not present” in the old Frog Fountain.

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