Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain

This guide to the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain in Chicago follows Kate Buckingham, the grain-fortune heiress who spent nights in 1927 arguing over colored light with the electricians who wired it, in tribute to her late brother. It traces the hidden pump house beneath the plaza and the bronze seahorses cast by a Frenchman who studied the real animals in Paris. You'll also hear about the crowd of fifty thousand and John Philip Sousa's band who turned out for its dedication that summer.