Save the date.
The City of Windsor says the new Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain will be unveiled a year from today.
The city will re-launch the new fountain on Tuesday, September 21, 2027, during a community celebration on International Day of Peace.
A kick-off event was held Monday morning at Coventry Garden at Reaume Park with members of the Brooks family, local labour officials, and city staff.
The new fountain will replace the old fountain that was removed from Detroit River after 45 years in September 2023 due to age-related maintenance issues.
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens says the tender for the fountain was awarded to a Canadian company, and the fountain will be built in Ontario.
“It fits the same form structure as the last one,” says Dilkens. “It will be good for the next 50 years once it’s built, but also the staff that people don’t see, the pump systems, and all the back-end electronics and control systems are brand new. What was there before was basically the equivalent of a Commodore 64 controlling everything with a system and just had aged out, and so everything will be brand new. It will be LED lighting, it will be sustainable, and it will be something that will be quite iconic here at Reaume Park for the next 40 to 50 years.”
George Brooks, son of Charles Brooks, was on hand for today’s kick-off.
He says the fountain is an important part of the community.
“It gives approval to the efforts of labour to enhance the lives of the people in the community and more broadly to enhance the lives of people throughout the world,” says Brooks.
In November 2024, city council approved a plan to replace the Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain with a new floating fountain, very similar to the original one.
The city is investing $11.3 million towards the project.
Dilkens says the price tag for the fountain came in slightly under budget at $8.3 million.
The Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain was installed in 1978 in honour of Brooks.
Brooks was the former president of the United Auto Workers Local 444.
He was shot and killed at the union hall on Turner Road in 1977 by a disgruntled Chrysler worker who had lost his job.
