The 22-foot-tall (6.7 m), 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) bronze fountain, cast in Paris, was a gift to the city by Gardner Brewer. It began to function for the first time on June 3, 1868. It is one of several casts of the original, featured at the 1855 Paris World Fair, designed by French artist Michel Joseph Napoléon Liénard; other copies with minor variations can be found across the world, including the Steble Fountain in Liverpool or the Tournouy Fountain in Québec.