Four terra cotta steers' heads, which once adorned Sioux City's historic Livestock Exchange Building, will find a new home as the centerpieces of a fountain that will grace Fourth Street.

The Roth Fountain is a donation to the community from Eldon and Regina Roth, Mayor Dave Ferris and Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president Debi Durham announced Friday at the Sioux City Convention Center. The fountain will be built outside the new Promenade Cineplex.

"everybody knows the Livestock Exchange Building has been very important to the History of Sioux City," artist Steven Blenderman said.

The fountain will feature four of the steers' heads and four floral panels that were saved from the building before it was demolished, sculptor Kirk Hoefling added. He and Blenderman, both of Sioux City, designed the fountain.

The building was heavily damaged in a May 1998 fire that destroyed the original 1894 portion, leaving only the 1915 Livestock National Bank portion standing. The bank has been demolished.

The four-sided fountain will be 16-feet tall. Water will flow through the steers' mouths, falling to a basin below. The diameter of the hexagonal-shaped pool will be 32 feet. Sixteen water jets will shoot water into the air. At night the fountain will be illuminated with fiber-optic lighting.

The tapestry bricks on the fountain will resemble those used on the Livestock Exchange Building, while cast stone will be made to replicate the original terra cotta. The bricks and cast stone will be made by RDG Planning & Design of Des Moines.

"We will have to make approximately 7,500 bricks," David Dahlquist of RDG said. "I've never seen something with this detail before.

The fountain will remind onlookers of the Prairie School elements of the Woodbury County Courthouse, which was designed by noted architect William L. Steele. He also designed the Exchange building.

"Our part as artists was to scale that design back down," Hoefling said. "Those steer panels were 40 feet in the air on the original building. People really couldn't see their intricate design. These four panels now will be 9 feet in the air.

Each panel weighs 150 pounds. Dahlquist said some minor repairs will need to be made to the panels, such as sealing chips. A cut will be made in each panel so a water jet can be installed behind steer's mouth through which the water will flow. Four small floral terra cotta squares will be installed below the steer panels.

The fountain will sit on a cobblestone granite plinth. The mosaic pattern in the pool will replicate the balustrade in the Exchange building.

"There will be five to seven different colors of green," Hoefling noted. "The gold we use will be metallic so there will be some sheen to it. ... The water will be 7 to 8 inches deep."

Four lighted pylons will surround the fountain. A bronze plaque on one pylon will give historical information about the Stockyards, while a bronze plaque on a second pylon will give information about the Roths.

Stanley Evans, former chairman of the Livestock National Bank, said, "I think this is a wonderful project. Now, we just need to get something going in the rest of the Stockyards to use the rest of the eight heads" from the building. "The heads are the only thing we have left from the stockyards."

Of the fountain, Hoefling predicted, "This will be a gathering place. It will be a destination place for people to meet."

Construction will begin in April. Blenderman said, with the project to be completed by Aug. 15.

Blenderman and Hoefling started working on a design three years ago that would incorporate some of the elements of the Exchange building in a fountain.

In the meantime, the Roths, owners of Beef Products Inc., approached Durham about making a major gift in the form of a fountain. The Roths met Blenderman and Hoefling, and embraced their design.

"I don't know if it's ego on the part of Eldon and I, but we really wanted to do something for the community that had our signature on it," Regina Roth explained. "This seems so perfect. It incorporated the past, but pushed it to a new level. People and children, lovers and grandparents can come by and reflect on it and think highly of the Roths."

In 1993, the Roths relocated their corporate headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Dakota Dunes.

Eldon Roth said of Siouxland, "I don't think I have seen anywhere else in my life, when living in California and in Texas, where people have given so much back to the community.

He told the audience that he would have preferred naming the fountain after his wife whom, he said, has contributed her time to many philanthropic projects.

"She didn't want to hear that," he admitted. "I'm going to ask my friends to always call it Regina's Fountain.".

The amount of the Roths' donation was not revealed.

"It's a very generous gift," Hoefling stressed.

"What impresses me the most is how they help others," Ferris said. "A lot of the time, they don't even know the names" of the people they are helping. "They have and continue to give millions. ... Not only did God bless Eldon and Regina, but blessed this community because Eldon and Regina decided to call Siouxland home.