Focus on Columbus Fountain and explore the Congressional legislation.
A very different fountain was originally planned for the circle in front of Union Station. But lobbying began in 1906 for a memorial by the Knights of Columbus. The location was not specified at the time.
On March 4, 1907, at 11:00 am, the 59th United States Congress approved HR 13304: That there shall be erected in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, a suitable memorial to the memory of Christopher Columbus.Section 2 provided the creation of a Commission shall be created consisting of: the chairman of the Senate committee on the Library of the Fifty-ninth Congress
the chairman of the Committee on the Library of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-ninth Congress
the Secretary of State (Elihu Root)
the Secretary of War (William H. Taft)
the Supreme Knight of the Order of the Knights of ColumbusThe powers of the commission would include the full authority to select a site and a suitable design and to contract for and superintend the construction of [the] said memorial.Section 3 provided the Commission $100,000 from the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated.
Secretary of State 59th United States Congress Supreme Knight of the Order of the Knights of Columbus Columbia Elihu Root United States Knights of Columbus Union Station William H. Taft Secretary of War Christopher Columbus