Harris Fountain Near Rochester Police Station Has a Tale to Tell
Remembering Rochester's Civil War soldier and POW Samuel Harris on Veteran's Day
Did you ever quench your thirst at the large, four-columned, stone drinking fountain near the Rochester Police Department? Maybe you thought it was a pretty fountain or wondered why such a simple device had a monument built around it. This structure is called the Harris Fountain and it was built in 1917 at the request of Samuel Harris, a Civil War lieutenant and prisoner of war who narrowly escaped execution at the hands of the Confederate Army in 1864. Life in Rochester Harris was a year old when he traveled with his family from Vermont to Michigan in 1837. Weak and frequently ill as a child, Harris didn’t regularly attend school. Instead he enjoyed building machines and working with tools. At 16, he convinced his father to let him …
Tiffany Dziurman Stozicki
3:45 pm on Friday, November 12, 2010
Thought I would mention that Sarah Harris, Samuel's wife, is buried in Mount Avon Cemetery. Daughter, Fannie (1860-62), and son, Edward (1870-71), are buried beside their mother. more ›