Buckingham Fountain

— “Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage…” And so goes “Love and Marriage,” the famous Frank Sinatra song written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The song was originally featured in the 1955 NBC Producers’ Showcase and then again as the theme song for the 1987–97 Fox TV sitcom “Married… with Children.” In that show, the opening sequence prominently featured Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain. So, when I went to a work conference in Chicago in 2016, I had to make sure I’d visit Grant Park, where the fountain is located. Lucky would have it that I was staying in a hotel not too far from that park. The fountain, a landmark in city, was dedicated in 1927 and is one of the largest fountains in the world. In the rocky rococo wedding cake style, it was inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles (France). Donated by Kate S. Buckingham in honor of her brother Clarence, the fountain has a major water display for 20 minutes every hour with a total of more than 1.5 million gallons of water coming from nearly 200 jets. The center jet shown in the photo above shoots water 150 feet high into the air!