Waterfountains.com, Inc. • Our History
From a Remarkable Discovery to Monumental Water Features
What began with a single tabletop fountain became a decades-long journey of engineering, craftsmanship, international installations, and monumental sculpture.
A Discovery That Changed Everything
The story of Waterfountains.com began in the late 1980s, when founder Gary Jackson attended the internationally known Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona. Inside one of the show’s large vendor tents, he encountered something he had never seen before: a massive granite sphere floating and rotating effortlessly on a thin layer of water.
The fountain had been created by a German company that was also displaying smaller tabletop models. Fascinated by the combination of natural stone, water, precision engineering, and seemingly impossible movement, Gary purchased a tabletop fountain so he could study and better understand how it worked.
From Tabletop Fountains to Architectural Scale
During the early 1990s, Gary and his wife, Esperanza, began making and selling tabletop floating-sphere fountains. They fabricated the fountains themselves and sold hundreds of tabletop models throughout the decade.
By the end of that period, the company was ready to move beyond tabletop models. Early transitional designs included an 8-inch black-marble sphere fountain and 16-inch granite sphere fountains with matching stone bases. These projects became practical stepping stones between the tabletop line and the much larger architectural fountains that followed.
The Beginning of Waterfountains.com
The 39-inch seminary sphere became the first large granite sphere fountain sold by the company, which was originally known as Spheres 2000. Recognizing the potential of this emerging specialty, Gary acquired the Waterfountains.com domain and established Waterfountains.com, Inc.
The company’s early installations took Gary and Esperanza throughout the United States and around the world. Their projects brought them to locations including Dubai, New Zealand, Spain, China, Japan, and Peru. In those early years, they frequently traveled directly to project sites to oversee installation and ensure that each fountain operated properly.
Every project added to their knowledge. Over the years, the company refined the engineering, plumbing, pumping systems, sphere fabrication, and precision matching of each sphere and base—producing increasingly larger, more dependable, and more precisely engineered floating sphere fountains.
Expanding Beyond Granite
Crystal Acrylic Sphere Fountains
Waterfountains.com developed crystal-clear acrylic sphere fountains as a visually distinctive and more accessible alternative to solid granite. Transparent spheres combined with moving water and dramatic lighting create luminous features for residences, hotels, businesses, entertainment venues, and public spaces.
Stainless-Steel Spheres and Globes
The stainless-steel division began after the National War College expressed interest in a granite sphere fountain but could not accommodate the enormous weight of solid stone at the proposed location. Waterfountains.com developed a hollow stainless-steel alternative with highly detailed representations of the Earth’s continents, opening the way for large globes, fountains, sports sculptures, and custom spherical designs.
From Fountains to Monumental Sculpture
The company’s capabilities expanded again when sculptor John Jagger asked whether his smaller artistic designs could be reproduced as monumental solid-granite sculptures.
Waterfountains.com accepted the challenge and produced three enormous granite sculptures—a mammoth, a puma, and a cat—for installation at Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden in Paso Robles, California.
The monumental Puma measures approximately 17 feet long and was fabricated from a single piece of granite. Weighing approximately 20,000 pounds, it demonstrates the extraordinary scale, material knowledge, precision, and fabrication capabilities required to transform an artist’s smaller original design into a permanent monumental work.
Turning Imaginative Concepts into Lasting Landmarks
What began with a single tabletop fountain has grown into decades of experience creating custom floating granite sphere fountains, crystal acrylic spheres, stainless-steel spheres and globes, and monumental sculptures.
Waterfountains.com continues to approach every commission as a custom engineering and artistic challenge. The goal remains the same: transform an imaginative concept into an extraordinary water feature or sculpture designed specifically for its setting.
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Request a Project QuotationGary E. Jackson, J.D.
Syracuse University
Southwestern University School of Law
U.S. Army Airborne Infantry Officer
Client References & Project Credentials
Trusted for Complex Projects Around the World
For decades, universities, museums, botanical gardens, contractors, artists, and international production companies have trusted Waterfountains.com to design, fabricate, coordinate, and install custom fountains and monumental works.
WingNut Films
Custom granite sphere fountain • Wellington, New Zealand
Waterfountains.com sourced the specified granite, prepared CAD and installation plans, customized the fountain system for the location and climate, and traveled to New Zealand to oversee installation.
JE Dunn Construction
Six-foot granite sphere • Lakewood, Colorado
JE Dunn praised the project communication, problem-solving, on-site installation support, and successful delivery of the granite sphere, base, and mechanical system.
Science North / Dynamic Earth
Interactive granite globe • Sudbury, Ontario
The museum commended the globe’s detailed representation of Earth, product quality, and service, noting that the installation continues to engage visitors at the main entrance.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
First major 39-inch granite sphere • Fort Worth, Texas
The Seminary praised the technical and design guidance, responsiveness, and on-site assistance that helped make this landmark early project successful.
DePauw University
Indoor atrium fountain • Greencastle, Indiana
DePauw described the finished fountain as aesthetically beautiful, appropriate for its setting, delivered conscientiously, and designed to meet the university’s budget.
John Jagger Sculpture / Sculpterra
Monumental solid-granite sculpture program
Sculptor John Jagger praised the collaborative planning, fabrication coordination, progress reporting, reliability, and installation support behind the monumental granite works.
Reference documentation: Original client letters are maintained in the Waterfountains.com project archive and are available for qualified project discussions upon request. Private contact details and signatures are not displayed online.
Client Reference Letter Library
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Original records preserved: Waterfountains.com maintains the original letters in its private project archive.