Friendship Fountain by the Numbers: A 1965 Opening, a 200-Foot Basin, 17,000 Gallons a Minute and a $7.95 Million Rebuild After 3 Years Dark

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Friendship Fountain has been shut down, rebuilt and switched back on several times in its 61 years on the Southbank. The fountain sits in St. Johns River Park at 1015 Museum Circle, beside the Main Street Bridge and across the St. Johns River from the Northbank skyline. Here is what the numbers say about one of Jacksonville's best-known landmarks, and what to know before a visit.

1965: A $1.75 million opening

The fountain opened in March 1965 after $1.75 million in construction, according to a history published Oct. 9, 2020, by The Coastal, a Jacksonville publication. It was built on more than a dozen acres of riverfront land donated by the Southside Business Men's Club. The designer was local architect Taylor Hardwick, who also designed the city's library building of that era, according to The Coastal.

The park first carried a different name. It opened as Dallas Thomas Park and Marina, named for a city commissioner, and city brochures called the centerpiece the "Fountain of Friendship," The Coastal reported. Thomas's name was dropped after he was indicted during the corruption scandals of the mid-1960s, and the site is now commonly called St. Johns River Park or Friendship Park.

200 feet, 17,000 gallons and 120 feet

The basin is 200 feet wide, according to The Coastal. When it opened, the fountain pushed 17,000 gallons of water a minute to a height of up to 120 feet, and the city billed it as the world's tallest fountain. The spray was reduced based on wind speed so that visitors would not be splashed, the publication reported.

Those numbers depended on three pumps, and the pumps did not all last. The fountain was refurbished in 1985, the same year the Southbank Riverwalk opened, and it went through a rehabilitation project in 2001, according to The Coastal. Two of the three pumps later stopped working permanently, leaving one pump to run the fountain for the rest of that decade.

The numbers at a glance

$3.1 million, then $7.95 million

The first big fix of this century came in 2010 and 2011. A $3.1 million project replaced the pumps, the electrical system and broken concrete and added seating and lighting, and the park reopened in June 2011, according to The Coastal. Less than a decade later, the city planned a larger overhaul.

The city set aside $2.1 million for a makeover in 2019, and construction started in 2020 with completion expected the following year, Action News Jax reported Feb. 15, 2024. Supply chain problems tied to the pandemic pushed the schedule back several times, and the cost grew to $7.95 million, according to the station. The fountain reopened the night of Feb. 15, 2024, after roughly three years, News4Jax reported that day.

The rebuild changed what visitors hear and where they sit. It added nearly 90 speakers, some built into the surrounding light poles, and 17 new seating areas, Action News Jax reported. News4Jax reported a new paving pattern, new landscaping and circular seating around the fountain's perimeter.

Built to keep running

Reliability was a goal of the latest project, according to the Downtown Investment Authority. Before the renovation, a minor malfunction meant the fountain had to be shut off, Lori Boyer, the authority's executive director, told News4Jax in February 2024. "We also added some redundancy, so that there will always be functioning parts of it," Boyer said.

Boyer said then that a later phase would project video onto the water, using it as a screen, and that she expected that phase within a year. The sources reviewed for this story did not show whether that phase has been completed. The fountain did close again temporarily in 2025 for fresh paint and mechanical work, and it reopened at noon April 17, 2025, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported that day.

More than a fountain now

The park around the fountain has grown. A new playground with a historical theme opened in April 2025, and its centerpiece is a play structure that resembles a sailing ship, the Daily Record reported. The downtown guide at dtjax.com names the ship "La Trinité" and lists restrooms, a wedding venue, picnic areas and interpretive gardens that tell the story of the city's founding and the St. Johns River.

The same guide says the renovated fountain has a waterfall wall and nightly choreographed light shows. It does not list show times, and neither did the other sources reviewed for this story. Visitors who want to see the lights should plan to arrive after dark and confirm details with the city's parks department.

If you go

The address is 1015 Museum Circle, Jacksonville, FL 32207, on the Southbank. A listing on the Fun 4 First Coast Kids calendar, updated Nov. 8, describes a free weekly music series at the fountain called Saturday Sounds, held Saturdays from 6 to 9 p.m. with rotating Northeast Florida musicians, food trucks, dessert vendors and lawn games. The listing says second Saturdays feature a jazz band and last Saturdays feature a silent disco.

That listing did not give an end date for the series, and a Visit Jacksonville page for the event was no longer online Nov. 9. Anyone planning a Saturday evening trip should check the city parks department's social media, which the listing links to, before heading out. None of the sources reviewed for this story listed an admission charge for the fountain or the park.