Evansville, IN


Dedication Ceremony

Evansville received its fountain from the National Humane Alliance in 1910 through the efforts of Adolph Melzer who was a local soap manufacturer and lover of animals. It was formally dedicated on January 8, 1911. It was placed in front of the Municipal (Willard) Market at the intersection of what was then known as First Avenue and Pennsylvania Streets. As with many other of the fountains, it came to be regarded by many as a hazard as the automobile replaced the horse as the main mode of traffic.

By the 1960s there was a raging debate about the necessity to remove and/or relocate the fountain. The picture above was staged by the Evansville Press, but the horse couldn't drink the water that day because it was frozen! One resident even asked to have the fountain moved to a wildlife refuge he was building. However, in 1962, it was moved to the grounds of the Evansville Museum and in 1971, it resumed its life as a working fountain along Main Street between Third and Fourth Streets. If you look carefully at the photo below, you can see that the plaque on the fountain is missing.

Brittany Luna discovered that the plaque is actually embedded into the brickway around the fountain as you can see below.

Here's an earlier look at the site from 1975:

Se, we are pleased to report that all is well with the fountain in Evansville more than a century after receiving it.

For more on the National Humane Alliance Fountains click here.


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