Pan Of Cherokee Park
By Jay Gravatte

Throughout the years many people gather in and around all 409 acres of Cherokee Park located at the heart of the city of Louisville to enjoy the natural scenery.

They are unaware of the legends and stories of the park that surrounds them. Passed by hundreds of vehicles and pedestrians daily a lone water fountain sits at one of the highest points in Cherokee Park. Its intricately carved statue has sat as a silent observer since its erection and dedication on August 31, 1905.

In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Hogan of Anchorage, Kentucky submitted a letter to the Board of Park Commissioners (the precursor of the Metro Louisville Parks Department) to suggest the erection of a water fountain for horses and dogs. In this plan the Hogans also offered a donation of $7,000 to help fund its construction. The Commission asked the parks designers, Louisville park architects Olmstead and Associates, to select the site for the fountain. They in turn selected a hill located in Cherokee Park. Noted Louisville sculptor, Enid Yandell, was chosen to design the fountain. At Mrs. Hogan’s suggestion, the Greek god Pan was selected as the subject matter.

The statue of Pan is sculpted and cast in bronze to appear life size, with a human body, horns atop its head and goat legs and feet. He appears dancing and holding a musical pipe in one hand, and is flocked by turtles that are used as water spouts into a fourteen-foot wide basin. The basin is decorated with four dog heads, from which water also flows into a trough from which animals can drink.

According to local urban legend, on nights of the full moon, (or as other legends state every night at midnight) Pan comes alive and leaves his post atop the fountain. Under the cover of darkness he is said to prowl the park, causing mischief and damage to some automobiles he may encounter.
 

The Famous "Pan" Fountain or
(Hogans Fountain) of Cherokee Park!