McMorran's Night and Day Fountain gets minor facelift ahead of plaza celebration

A week ahead of the formal unveiling of a newly revamped McMorran Plaza, the space’s iconic Night and Day Fountain is getting a minor facelift.

But as during plaza construction, the fountain’s iconic statues won’t be impacted.

“Those are iconic pieces of history,” Port Huron City Manager James Freed said Tuesday. The sculptures — the reclined female night and male day figures — as well as the gold, anodized aluminum clock above, were commissioned in the late 1950s by sculptor Marshall Fredericks, also known for the Spirit of Detroit statue.

“The mayor and council were very focused on protecting that history and enhancing it,” Freed added. “So, a beautiful plaza now around it, we actually focused on when we designed the plaza to maintain line of sight to those features from the street,” he added, referring to the “knee-high brick walls” toward the corners of the former plaza that have been removed.

The new $1 million plaza outside McMorran and on Huron Avenue downtown will include an elevated stage area, a seasonal turf space that can become an ice loop during the winter, and a beer garden connected to a bar area inside the complex’s Memorial Room.

A ceremony to celebrate the long-awaited completion of the project is set for 1 p.m. May 26 outside 701 McMorran Blvd.

City Council toured the plaza mid-construction last summer, approving a $38,950 repair bid for the fountain in January.

The original scope of work from the Milford-based National Restoration Inc. included rebuilding its northeastern corner wall, removing and resetting loose capstones, addressing loose and damaged bricks and delaminated concrete, a powerwash, and two coats of a fountain base paint, among other repairs.

On Tuesday, Rob Churchill, McMorran's manager, said crews finished with four coats of paint.

“Not only did they work on all the brickwork and sandstone work, they also worked on the fountain itself, sealing it, repainting it, repairing some stuff,” Freed said. “So, it’s in really good condition right now, and we’re going to fire that back up after the ribbon-cutting, as well.”

Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Winzer said that “some of the mechanics” of the fountain system itself will have to be addressed in a future project, which may be the subject of fundraising down the road.

“It hasn’t been redone in a long time,” she said. “That’ll be our next thing.”

Funds to restore the fountain’s façade came from the city’s McMorran fund. Plaza improvements were largely financed with grants and donated funds.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: McMorran's Night and Day Fountain gets minor facelift