Healing Garden

Swedish artist and sculptor, Charles Haag, was commissioned by the McKay family to create a sculpture to memorialize those who were lost in the 1889 flood in Johnstown. 

The sculpture, which features an inset bronze relief of an Indian and a buffalo drinking out of a stream, also features a drinking fountain for people on one side and a trough for horses and dogs on the other.  It was presented to the City of Johnstown in 1914 and was moved from place to place in the downtown.  During one of those moves the base cracked.  Sandyvale is host to many pieces of sculpture and statuary since the early 1800’s, so when the City’s Monument Committee approached Sandyvale to host The American Fountain on site, we embraced this storied sculpture.  Replacing the base would have cost $60,000, but with the help of generous business leaders at Fi-Hoff Concrete Products and Danchanko Inc construction and a piece of equipment borrowed from the City of Johnstown, the 10,000 lb. fountain was lowered onto the original repaired granite base and the Healing Garden constructed.

It’s through partnerships such as these with generous businesses in the community that Sandyvale is able to make improvements and enhancements to this beautiful 11-acre green space and preserve our historic sculptures and statuary.  The American Fountain sculpture is now the centerpiece of the Healing Garden which features sensory plants in raised beds with braille tags so wheelchair bound and sight impaired visitors can enjoy the many herbs, flowers, wind rustling grasses and wind chimes featured in the garden.