“My wife thinks it's a crazy idea," he told the press, a year prior to opening. “She thinks it will be known as ‘Delacorte's Folly.’ ”
The name never really caught on beyond George T. Delacorte and wife Valéria Hidvéghy, though it did earn a brief mention in his 1991 obituary. By then, however, the 450-foot water geyser was little more than a memory. No one, least of all the Delacortes, were aware that the fountain had erupted its final time when it was closed for electrical repairs in 1986.
For nearly two decades, Delacorte Fountain had been a controversial but semi-reliable landmark. Installed halfway across the East River from Manhattan’s U.N. building, the geyser sprayed an arc of river water high into the New York City air four times a day. The ostentatious project had its share of critics well before its unveiling — opposition, in fact, was its most consistent feature. Breakdowns were not uncommon, and in its waning years, the once-majestic spray had been nearly halved, down to 240 feet.
By the early-60s, Delacorte had become a prodigious philanthropist. At Columbia, his alma mater, the Dell Publishing founder established the Delacorte Professorship in the Humanities, George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism and Delacorte Professorship in Magazine Journalism. He donated the money for Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, Delacorte Musical Clock and an Alice in Wonderland sculpture. The latter was dedicated to Hidvéghy, though the Mad Hatter’s face was said to be modeled in Delacorte’s image.
Fountains named for the publisher dot the city to this day, but none came close to the size scope of the geyser situated on southern tip of Welfare Island. Delacorte donated $400,000 for the installation, believing the object would bring joy to New Yorkers on either side of the river. Between sprays, the fountain was little more than a large concrete slab that “look[ed] like a sewer outfall and, indeed, that's very much what it was in the early years,'' Henry J. Stern would later complain, adding that, “liquid waste was being flung 400 feet in the eyes and faces of people who lived on Sutton Place.’'
At the time of the fountain’s opening in 1969, the East River was, indeed, a massive sewer. Residents of the city raised concern that the fountain would contribute to the spread of hepatitis by shooting droplets of human waste high into the air. With a healthy gust of wind, they could easy drift over the river, into Manhattan. The water was subsequently chlorinated to stop the spread of infection, though on occasion, when too much of the chemical was added, it reportedly had the effect of turning the water red.
The fountain was switched off during a drought, when city officials expressed concerns that it might be viewed as a symbol of excess — though it seems doubtful that anyone was interested in consuming water from its source. Suggestions to shut down the fountain were also made over energy use, as the fountain cost some $10,000 for the city to power. Another incident found the car of a repairman’s roof caved in when he parked too close.
In its final years, it found new controversy, when a group planted a group of 58 cedar and pine trees to obscure the dilapidating facade of a nearby abandoned smallpox hospital. Reports alternately suggest the trees were killed due to the water’s chlorine content or the fact that it eroded the soil around the plants. Following the 1986 electrical repair, the fountain was set to reopen, but by then it had run into additional issues with a valve.
Thirteen years prior, Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island, as the population of the thin sliver of land begun to grow from beyond primarily hospital patients to residential apartments. The newfound occupants were none too excited to be situated even closer to the East River geyser than their Manhattan or Queens counterparts.
Suggestions were made to save the fountain. In on scenario, it would be moved to nearby Belmont Island. The 100 x 200-foot island is Manhattan’s smallest, created during the construction of Steinway Tunnel, which now serves to connect the 7 train with Queens. That plan ultimately fell flat. So, too, did the suggestion of a wind device that would stop the geyser from erupting when gusts were powerful enough to spray residents.
''A wind device is not practical,'' Delacorte’s technical adviser William Fotopulos said at the time. “It's the insistence on the part of the people who are putting up these stupid trees on compatibility. There is nothing I can think of that is compatible with the geyser.''
Sources:
Good Intentions On Quirky Geyser Go Slightly Awry https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/28/nyregion/metro-matters-good-intentions-on-quirky-geyser-go-slightly-awry.html
Concerns about infectious hepatitis and Delacorte's Welfare Island Fountain https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15141899/
WELFARE ISLAND TO GET FOUNTAIN; Delacorte Will Build It and Pay for Its Upkeep https://www.nytimes.com/1967/07/16/archives/welfare-island-to-get-fountain-delacorte-will-build-it-and-pay-for.html
Planters Say Roosevelt Island Geyser Harms Trees https://apnews.com/article/dc765c24f354452d23664e39fa84a606