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| Found: Brookfield Square, Brookfield, Wisconsin. A completely weather conditioned enclosed Mall. Specially designed and lighted fountains in tropical parklike settings. Hi-lighted by the fascinating "Wonderfall," scuptured art and wide terrazzo walkways. From an Ektachrome Transparency, The L.L.Cook Co., Milwaukee, Wisc., circa 1967. |
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| Found: Written in ballpoint: "This is a new Shopping Center near where my Daughter lives in Brookfield" |
A quick google search reveals no trace of the "fascinating Wonderfall" today other than the occasional abandoned mall shot. Truly a work of public art placed in the democratic space of the shopping mall nearly half century ago. These fountains apparently made of nylon strands and glycerine are described briefly on the Mall Hall of Fame blog and are notoriously difficult to maintain according to artist Brian Ulrich whose photographs and research have focused on the mall in recent years. Brookfield Square wasn't the only mall with a "Wonderfall" though, other malls had them and newspaper ads described them as "mystifying." There seems to be little trace of giant operating Wonderfall in malls these days. Everyone can remember small scale versions in nursing home and supper club lobbies and home versions turn up frequently on eBay and the occasional nostalgic video.
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