Sydney Smith Memorial Fountain
Smith was a native of Marengo County, Alabama. During the Civil War he served four years in Company D, 1st Mississippi Regiment with which he attained the rank of Captain. At the time of his death, Smith was 73 years old and had spent forty-nine of those years in Dallas. His home was at 4003 Junius Street where he spent his old age alone, Mrs. Smith having passed away in the fall of 1903. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery and his funeral service was conducted by the Reverend Bishop Alexander Garrett.
The fountain originally stood at the head of the Grand Plaza, near the old Exposition Building, but was later moved to a spot immediately in front of the Music Hall. In the 1970s it was moved again, to the site it now occupies, during construction of an extension to the Music Hall. Just to the east of the Sydney Smith Memorial, on the site of today's Automobile Building parking lot, once stood the original Fair Park Automobile Building. The red brick structure was built in 1922 and in 1936 was joined to the new Electrical and Communications Building. As previously mentioned, both burned down in 1942. |
Copyright © 1996-2012 by Steven Butler, Ph.D. All rights reserved.