The National Humane Alliance Fountain

In 1897, Hermon Lee Ensign, a wealthy advertising executive who loved animals, incorporated the National Humane Alliance and promoted kindness to animals and to one another through illustrated stories. When he died in 1899, he left most of his fortune to the Alliance, which between 1906 and 1912 honored his memory by placing an estimated 125 solid granite animal fountains on city streets. Cut and polished by the Bodwell Granite Company in Maine and weighing about 6 tons, the fountains had lion head spouts on three sides and a dedication plaque on the fourth, with a large bowl for horses and ground-level bowls for smaller animals such as dogs and cats. Around 1909, Hot Springs received one of these fountains and placed it at the intersection of what was then Malvern Avenue and Valley Street, where it served travelers and their animals until the 1920's. As automotive transportation increased, Judge David Whittington had it moved to Sleepy Valley Springs. In the late 1970's, Thomas E. and Ida Lee Reed acquired the fountain, and it remained in their family for decades until their grandson Greg Reed contacted City Manager David Watkins in 2014 about returning it. After Parks and Trails Director Jean Wallace found it well preserved, she proposed incorporating it into a new city plaza near its original site, and today it continues in Hot Springs, Arkansas, as part of Ensign's philanthropic legacy.

Hot Springs, Arkansas · United States