Sanford Memorial Fountain,
A Gift to the Village of Warwick 

    For well over a century, the Sanford Memorial Fountain has been a welcoming site on what was once known as “Fountain Square” or “Forester Square,” a prominent gathering place at the intersection of Colonial Ave. (Kings Hwy.) and Main St./Maple Ave. When the Village of Warwick was first formed, its center was at the square alongside the fork in the road at Kings Hwy./Colonial Ave. 

  “It was here that men met and decided to join the rebel force in Revolutionary times...In 1862 when Warwick sent its quota of men to the 124th regiment they started from the old Wawayanda Hotel...In our day, it was around the fountain that the home guard composed of the older men marched and drilled when the younger men left for the World War. It was at the fountain that the Armistice Day parade started on its joyous march around town,” wrote Miss Hylah Hasbrouck in her paper before the fortnightly club  that was  printed in the Warwick Valley Dispatch on March 3, 1933.

    With a bandstand at “Fountain Square” it was a place of entertainment for residents who listened to music while children played in the grassy area. A hub of businesses and hotels surrounded the square making it the perfect spot for a fountain. On May 27, 1904, the fountain, designed by J. Rogers Smith of Middletown, was formally presented as a gift to the Village in memory of the late George Washington Sanford (1821-1900) from his heirs. 

      Mr. Sanford, owner of several farms, was one of the organizers and directors of the First National Bank, a promoter of the Warwick Valley Railway, the first president of the Warwick Cemetery Association, and served as Town Supervisor. Noted for his hospitable traits and his marvelous charity it was fitting to have a fountain in his honor at the center of the Village with a trough for horses on one side while the other was for people to drink from. 

      Water for the fountain was piped up from the Wawayanda Creek which was challenging considering the distance the pipe traveled and the intertwining of wires from other underground utilities.  The fountain, which was shut off around 1914, was originally placed in front of the United States Hotel, now the Warwick Mobil Gas Station. In 1920, a stone monument and plaque was added to the square in honor of Henry William Herbert (1808-1858), a writer known as Frank Forester, who visited the Village in the early part of the 19th Century. 

      Over the years the square was changed to becoming more of a triangular shape as the roadway was enlarged. When the fountain was struck by an automobile in 1958 it was severely damaged. According to an article published in the Warwick Advertiser on Oct. 8, 1959, Village Attorney John Straton initiated a lawsuit against the driver of the vehicle who didn’t have insurance to pay for the damages that amounted to $425. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed the driver agreed to pay $10 a week to repair the memorial.