In 1913 the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton overflowed its banks, causing widespread devastation. The city's response to this disaster was the formation of a governmental agency that was given responsibility for flood control and water management. For the following sixty years, concrete levees and dams were built throughout the Great Miami watershed system until the dangers of urban flooding were a thing of the past. In the late 1970s, however, priorities of this Agency broadened to include beautification of its urban riverfronts in accordance with growing public interest in the amenities that can be offered by water.
Of particular concern to the citizens of Dayton was a continuing pattern of urban development that turned its back on the river, undoubtedly in response to the river's marginal depth, muddy banks, and inhibiting levees. When an effort to revitalize Dayton's downtown got off the ground in 1976, significance was attached to the unnecessarily negative impact exerted by the river on adjacent development sites. Why not make the river an asset, it was asked, especially along its important downtown reach?
The task was to make the downtown levee of the river accessible and attractive for people while preserving its flood-control characteristics. A solution was achieved through the efforts of the above mentioned Agency, the City of Dayton, and numerous citizen groups with a planning process that involved the public by means of a series of six live "Design-a-thons" on local television.
The solution was to step the levee from top to bottom with concrete risers that act as public seating for outdoor festivities. These steps are cut across by a ramp that also provides the handicapped with an easy means for reaching the water. A stage, which acts as center of interest for this levee of steps, is, in fact, a large concrete boat seemingly in the act of docking. The stage/boat, plus steps, railings, and walkways, are designed to be submerged under the 24-foot flood stage conditions that occur annually. At the top of the levee is a new esplanade, with lighting, benches, and an outdoor restaurant overlooking the river.
For the river itself it was felt that some dramatic focus should be installed. The Kiwanis Club of Dayton proposed a formal fountain and offered to fund it. Centerbrook designed a fountain that is made up of floating pavilions, each planted in gardens of petunias and geraniums in exuberance reminiscent of the Shalimar Gardens of Kashmir's Dal Lake. Water is pumped from the river by a simple farm windmill, which delivers it into a pair of galvanized barrels, which themselves tip at the moment of perfect fulcrum and splash into a pair of galvanized hog troughs, and from there into spillways to refresh the plants or to turn small waterwheels made from bicycle spokes - an appropriate touch, it is thought, for the hometown of the Wright Brothers.
These two projects - the riverfront park and floating fountain - have, indeed, redirected interest to the Great Miami River. The riverfront park is now the setting for the River Festival, the city's biggest annual celebration, and the fountain has been made accessible to the public by means of a summer boat rental operation. Its credits include numerous special events and even waterborne weddings.