The King Memorial Fountain, also known as the Rufus H. King Fountain or the Moses Fountain, was installed at the southernwestern end of Washington Park in 1893. The fountain was erected in memory of Rufus H. King, former president of the Albany Savings Bank, the New York State National Bank, and the Albany Insurance Company, through the will of his son, Col. Henry L. King who left the sum of $10,000 for that purpose when he died in 1878. By the time the fountain was commissioned, the sum had gown to $30,000. The executors of the King's will named Daniel Chester French, Ephraim Keyser, Charles H. Niehaus, and J. Massey Rhind to create models on the theme of Moses Smiting the Rock. The models were placed on display for public approval before the fountain committee settled on Rhind's model.
The fountain features a bronze figure of
Moses standing atop a file of rocks, his arms raised and a stick held in his proper right hand. Below him four allegorical bronze figures are installed amid the rocks. On his front proper right side,
Youth is a young female figure holding a water jug. On his front proper left side,
Manhood is a bearded young man with a sword. On his back proper left side,
Old Age is a bearded elderly man with a staff. On his back proper right side, Childhood is a seated mother feeding her little girl who reclines in her lap while her little boy stands by her proper right side.
Washington Park, bound by Willett Street, Madison Avenue, State Street and Lake Avenue, was first opened to the public in 1871. The park was laid out by the engineering firm of Bogart, Culyer & Co., with R.H. Bingham, city surveyor, as chief engineer and superintendent. In 1873, Bingham was succeeded by his former assistant, William S. Egerton, who completed the design.
Washington Park Historic District #72000818 (1972)
