In 1907, the Bernardsville Improvement Society launched an ambitious campaign to transform the village center into a more dignified public space, later known as Olcott Square, named in honor of philanthropist Frederick P. Olcott. Replacing a cluttered square marked by rough road conditions, utility poles, and overhead wires, the project focused on installing an ornamental fountain dedicated to Olcott in recognition of his gifts to the community. The Society initially considered a spraying fountain but deemed it impractical and instead approved a “non-spraying fountain” designed by Mr. Diehl. Funded through citizen donations, Township improvements, and contributions of labor and materials from local figures including David Buist, Mr. Diehl, and Mr. Hoffman, the fountain project represented one of Bernardsville’s largest civic beautification efforts. Although intended as a working water fountain, likely of the drinking fountain type rather than a dramatic spray design, the project would soon become the source of one of the village’s most enduring public controversies.
Before Olcott Square became defined by modern civic improvements and the fountain and light, its public identity centered on the tradition of the liberty pole. Like many American village greens and crossroads during the Revolutionary and early national periods, Bernardsville’s central square likely featured a liberty pole as a visible symbol of patriotism, public gathering, and civic life. That tradition endured into the borough era as the municipal flagpole that stood prominently in the town’s center.
Bernardsville’s Fountain Square
It all began when the Bernardsville Hotel (Old Stone Hotel) was the main attraction. The horse stable was built, and the town’s water spring was right outside their door. Then in 1907, someone came up with the idea it was time to beautify the village….. the Bernardsville Improvement Society went to work.
Since 1907, there had been a little secret. Despite its intended purpose, the fountain, made by Mott Iron Works, never operated as a fountain. By 1911, Buist admitted that although the structure had stood for several years, “there was never a drop of water in it except what fell from the skies.” The newspaper reported that while practical and inexpensive water options existed, the Bernardsville Improvements Society (BIS). failed to pursue the matter connecting a water supply, leaving the costly installation functioning only as what critics called a “very costly lamp post.”
The ladies of the Auxiliary Bernardsville Improvement Society softened the embarrassment of a waterless fountain by filling the unused basin with flowers and vines.
The Olcott Square postcard below, “never a fountain fountain,” looking northeast towards today’s Shop Rite. The Manker Hall and Boylan House are on the right. At a cost of more than $800, the celebrated Mott Works waterless fountain graced Bernardsville’s square. Water pipes were installed underground but never connected. Samuel Childs, the Water Company President and resident, also had offered to provide water to the fountain, but nothing was ever done. As a result, flowers were planted in the fountain as a “sideline was a palpable absurdity.”
By 1913, frustration with the long-dormant “dummy” or “fake” fountain led the Women’s Auxiliary, led by Mrs. Kunhardt and Mrs. Lorillard, to secure Township approval to redesign the square. The old fountain arrangement was removed and replaced with a landscaped triangular plaza featuring grass, trees, hedges, flowers, and an illuminated centerpiece described as a “fountain of light,” essentially an ornamental lamppost.
While supporters praised the beautification effort, critics argued that Bernardsville had abandoned the original vision. They maintained that a relatively small additional effort could have completed the working fountain envisioned by David Buist, the Bernardsville Improvement Society, and the original civic contributors, turning what should have been Bernardsville’s proud water fountain into an expensive decorative lamp and one of the village’s most debated beautification projects.
Why The Name Olcott Square?
Bernardsville’s Frederick P. Olcott
Frederic P. Olcott (1841–1909), a prominent New York banker, president of the Central Trust Company of New York, and former New York State Comptroller, became one of Bernardsville’s greatest benefactors during the community’s formative years.
Olcott’s most enduring achievement came in 1905–1906 when he financed and donated the Olcott School, providing Bernards Township with its first public high school facility and dramatically expanding educational opportunities in the Somerset Hills. His influence extended beyond education into civic development, including contributions to local public improvements such as the 1906 firehouse project.
Following his death in 1909, his legacy remained deeply embedded in the town through landmarks bearing his name, including Olcott Square, Olcott Avenue, and the Olcott School, reflecting his lasting role in shaping Bernardsville’s educational, civic, and physical identity during the early 20th century.
By 1923, Bernardsville’s Olcott Square fountain, originally erected as a publicly funded memorial to Frederick P. Olcott and intended as a public drinking fountain, faced possible removal amid plans to modernize the village center. The committee, including D. Fred Augst, Albert Jolliffe, and James R. Buist, recommended taking the fountain out because upcoming highway reconstruction, grade changes, and the concreting of Olcott Square would eliminate the trees and landscaping that had formed its intended setting. Without its surrounding greenery, committee members argued, the fountain would appear out of place in an increasingly modern, traffic-oriented business district, where improved street lighting, traffic signs, and new roadway design were viewed as more appropriate civic features. Although removal was proposed, the article noted that no decision had yet been made about the fountain’s ultimate fate.
1926 – Fountain Removal
In the summer of 1926, that borough flagpole was destroyed by lightning, prompting a community effort to restore one of the square’s most recognizable symbols. Fred J. Alexander organized a public fundraising campaign, with estimates gathered for replacement poles made of California fir, lignum vitae, steel, and Oregon pine. Fraternal organizations pledged funds, mountain section residents contributed toward erection costs, and borough leaders pushed for installation before winter. The 1926 campaign reflected more than a practical replacement project. It represented the continuation of a long civic tradition in which the central square remained marked by a patriotic pole, linking Bernardsville’s earlier liberty-pole heritage to the modern borough flagpole that would once again rise over Olcott Square. But the fountainless fountain needed to go as well.
After the Olcott Square flagpole was destroyed by lightning in the summer of 1926, Bernardsville completed a community-wide fundraising campaign and officially ordered a new pole. Fred J. Alexander, who led the drive, selected a 70-foot Oregon pine flagpole from a Jersey City rigging company at a cost of $300, with an additional $25 for erection by New Jersey Power & Light Company. The pole was fully equipped, painted, and expected to arrive shortly for installation in Olcott Square.
The project became a broad community undertaking. Seventeen Bernardsville organizations collectively raised the needed funds, including fraternal groups, unions, civic clubs, the Fire Company, G.A.R., Masons, Odd Fellows, and others. Mayor George D. Cross also secured an additional $108 contribution from members of Bernardsville’s mountain colony. In the final step, the Borough Council voted in December 1926 to reimburse Alexander for all expenses connected with erecting the flagpole.
Bernardsville Library
Town Squares across Somerset Hills: Civic flagpoles of the same era: Using the common civic flagpole rule of thumb, the flag length is about 1/4 the pole height. Here’s a flagpole/flag comparison:
| Village / Location | Pole height | Likely flag size | Approx. flagpole weight | Square feet | Approx. nylon weight | Approx. heavier polyester weight |
| Basking Ridge Village | 50 ft | 10 x 15 ft | 350 to 500 lb | 150 sq ft | 5 to 6.5 lb | 9 to 12 lb |
| Bernardsville Olcott Square | 50 ft | 10 x 15 ft | 350 to 500 lb | 150 sq ft | 5 to 6.5 lb | 9 to 12 lb |
| Peapack Gladstone | 50 ft | 8 x 12 ft | 350 to 500 lb | 96 sq ft | 3.5 to 4.5 lb | 6 to 8 lb |
| Liberty Corner | 60 ft | 10 x 15 ft | 500 to 700 lb | 150 sq ft | 5 to 6.5 lb | 9 to 12 lb |
| Warren – Flag Plaza | 80 ft | 25 x 40 ft | 1,100 to 1,600 lb | 1,000 sq ft | 35 to 50 lb | 60 to 90 lb |
| Warren – Keystone Corner | 110 ft | 30 x 60 ft | 2,500 to 4,000 lb | 1,800 sq ft | 65 to 90 lb | 110 to 160 lb |
History Around Bernardsville’s Olcott Square
