1931 Phoenix fountain honors John W. Swilling and Trinidad Escalante Swilling
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Summary
A white-granite fountain erected in 1931 on the north side of the old Phoenix City Hall commemorates early settlers John W. Swilling and his wife, Trinidad Escalante Swilling, and credits the Hohokam canal builders, the transcript of a Phoenix Minute segment said.
A white-granite fountain erected in 1931 on the north side of the old Phoenix City Hall honors early settlers John W. Swilling and his wife, Trinidad Escalante Swilling, according to a Phoenix Minute presentation.
The segment said the fountain commemorates the couple for seeing the city’s potential and credited the ancient Hohokam canals for enabling early irrigation that helped start Phoenix. The Maricopa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected the fountain, the presentation said.
The presentation described the monument as a granite sculpture often admired for its elegant design and symbolic connection to the city’s early development. The segment noted that John W. Swilling and Trinidad Escalante Swilling established the first pioneer home in the Salt River Valley in 1868 and that the fountain was installed in 1931 as a civic memorial.
The transcript refers to the fountain’s site as the north side of the old Phoenix City Hall and also describes that location as the old Maricopa County Courthouse; the segment did not resolve that phrasing. The presentation gave no further details about conservation, ownership, or current maintenance of the fountain.