Three years ago, the Fort Myers statue Rachel at the Well was nearly destroyed during Hurricane Ian.
The bougainvillea did it.
That’s what a site inspection determined in the aftermath of the storm.
Over the years, the bougainvillea had entwined its branches around the wrought iron fence behind the statue. When the bougainvillea caught Ian’s 100 mile per hour winds, it toppled the fence, which landed on the maiden and broke her neck and back.
The sculpture has been repaired for more than a year.
Last Friday, the city began preparing to install a new wrought iron fence behind the statue. But this time, the fence will be anchored to a solid concrete retaining wall by thick threaded anchor bolts rather than two-inch screws. And it will be bolted to the towers that flank Rachel, which are now constructed from solid steel reinforced concrete.
Although these reinforcements should protect Rachel, the city’s Public Art Committee is advising city staff and the Edison Park Homeowners Association to keep the bougainvillea from becoming entwined in Rachel’s new fence.
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Rachel stands at the entrance to Edison Park at Llewellyn Drive and McGregor Boulevard.
Rachel at the Well is actually the statue’s nickname. Its official name is “The Spirit of Fort Myers.” City employees gave her the biblical nickname in the 1920s because of her proximity to the Thomas Edison Congregational Church.
Historic Preservation Commission Chair Gina Sabiston calls Rachel an “icon of our community.”
The statue celebrates its centenary next year. It was dedicated on April 8, 1926.
Helmuth von Zengen was commissioned to create the statue by James D. Newton, who was the project manager for the Edison Park development that was being constructed by the Snell Brothers out of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Thomas and Mina Edison both attended the dedication.
When it was installed in 1926, the statue was flanked by two tall columns that were connected by a curved wrought iron fence.
The base of each column was originally constructed of hollow concrete block covered with stucco and paint. In 2017, the columns’ bases were fortified using a combination of solid concrete and steel. However, these fortifications were only made to a height of 5 feet. The columns remained hollow above that height, and the uppermost column failed when the bougainvillea-entwined wrought iron fence was toppled by Hurricane Ian’s winds.
One of the reasons the wrought iron fence toppled was because it was secured to the retaining wall only by means of two-inch bolts drilled into the open-cell concrete retaining wall.
Those defects have all been addressed and cured.
The statue was restored in April 2024, but the columns, fence and retaining wall — collectively called “the surround” — had to be rebuilt.
Both columns topped by new obelisks were completed several weeks ago. All that now remains is for the new wrought iron fence to be installed, the obelisks painted, new sconces installed on the columns along with a new pump at the base of statue. With any luck, water could once again be flowing from the maiden’s urn into the pool at her feet by Halloween.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
