An early watering trough, authenticated by the Carnegie Museum as early colonial and of European design, was found by Hugh F. Cook while he was working for the Sampson Construction Company near the intersection of Illini Drive and Vanderbuilt Drive in the University Park section of Monroeville. Cook moved it to his farm in North Washington and used it for his animals until 1977. The Cook family then donated it to the Monroeville Historical Society, and it was moved to its present location in October 1988.