FAIRHOPE, Alabama—The familiar sight of Brown Pelicans skimming above the waters of Mobile Bay and perching on piers along the Gulf Coast was not always a given.

“Pesticides like DDT threatened the Brown Pelicans future in the Southeast in the early 1970s,” Dr. John Borom, director of the Fairhope campus of Faulkner State Community College, said of the pesticide that may have damaged the species’ ability to reproduce and was banned in 1972. “Since then the population has increased.”

A pelican sculpture and fountain on the Fairhope campus of FSCC was created by legendary Fairhope artist, sculptor, writer, environmentalist, and “character” Craig Turner Sheldon, as a celebration of the return of the Brown Pelican after sharply declining numbers. It was removed from the list of endangered species in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Atlantic Coast states in 1985.

The city of Fairhope and friends pitched in, said Sheldon’s son-in-law Dean Mosher, “but it was Dr. John Borom who found the location and the majority of the funding and materials to make it a reality.”

It was dedicated in March 1990 during the Arts & Crafts Festival, of which Sheldon, who died in 1997, was a founder in 1954.

And though the species has bounced back, the years have not been as kind to the sculpture itself.

Over the years Mosher, also a noted local artist, has undertaken the repair, sealing, and on several occasions the draining, chipping, caulking, and repainting of the pool.

“It was getting to the point where the foundation had cracked and settled so much that a major restoration of the base became necessary,” Mosher said. “Once again, Dr. Borom came through with the materials funding.”

Others in the community helped as well, he added.

Electric Department Superintendent Scott Sligh and department employees Sean Power, Kevin Wadsworth, and Josh Hoover provided new equipment and installation to upgrade the old, worn-out system. Jeremy Davis from the water Department also helped, and Curtis Rewerts from Riverside Pool Jewel installed a new pump and filter, Mosher said.

Five cubic yards of special-mix concrete was pumped in from Fairhope Avenue (to protect the campus grounds), creating a new six-inch slab on top of the old base, he added.

The project took about four months to complete, and the fountain began flowing again on Jan. 13.

“It was a lot of work done by a lot of great people, and I think Craig would be pleased,” Mosher said.

The idea for the pelican sculpture started with former Mayor Jim Nix, Mosher said, following a trip Nix had taken to Europe where he saw examples of “public art.”

“He recognized that public art is an indispensable part of a community’s identity to be shared with others,” Mosher said. “It helped ingrain the idea and others came after, like Bruce Larsen’s seahorse and the Marietta Johnson sculpture on the bluff. All of these works came after the first example of public art in the city at Faulkner State. They all help create a sense of community in Fairhope.”

As for the iconic sculpture itself, Sheldon carved all the separate pieces (body, wings, and several sets of feet) from wood, then supervised their assembly, molding, and casting into the three birds in the work, Mosher said.

“He first constructed the pilings, concrete pool floor, and concrete block walls, to which he applied an outer veneer of thousands of hand-chipped bricks,” Mosher said. “Many Fairhope residents remember passing by and seeing and visiting with him as he sat on the wall chipping for weeks and weeks.”

Sheldon received no fee for his work, only the materials were provided, he said.

The pelican sculpture and fountain serve as a community focal point in Fairhope with a particular message, Borom said.

“It is a classic story of how basic scientific research can lead to education,” Borom said of the threat posed to Brown Pelicans by DDT, how the pesticide was banned and the resulting resurgence of the species. “Good science education results in good stewardship of other creatures that share our world with us.”