At the island’s downtown-facing west end stands the James Scott Memorial Fountain, a vast white-marble fountain finished in 1925 and designed by Cass Gilbert, architect of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Woolworth Building. Carved turtles, dolphins, and lions spill water down its tiers, and on a summer evening it’s lit and running against the Detroit skyline.
It came with a scandal: James Scott was a wealthy, widely disliked local gambler who left his fortune for the fountain on the condition that his statue be included. The city argued for years, took the money, and built it anyway — so his bronze likeness sits gazing at the city that couldn’t stand him.
Cass Gilbert designed the fountain in white Georgia marble with more than 100 water outlets in the forms of lions, turtles, and dolphins — a Beaux-Arts centerpiece for Olmsted’s island.
The Scott bequest was so controversial the city debated for years whether to accept a memorial to him at all; in the end they built the grandest fountain in Detroit and let his statue stay.
Pro tip: Sunset is the shot: walk out to nearby Sunset Point for the skyline across the water, then catch the fountain lit up as the light drops.
- • The west end has the best skyline sightlines — pair the fountain with Sunset Point.
- • The fountain typically runs and is lit in the warmer months.
- • Wide, flat, open ground — easy with strollers and leashed dogs.
- Who built the fountain on Belle Isle?
- The James Scott Memorial Fountain (1925) was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the U.S. Supreme Court building. It was funded by a bequest from James Scott, a controversial local figure who required that his statue be part of it.
