Fort Worth, TX

We had believed that Fort Worth, Texas received a fountain for some time, but never listed it because we could only find one obscure reference to it until now. The only thing we knew was that a library in Chicago had included Fort Worth in a listing of fountains - but there was no other evidence. David Hunn recently sent us the picture above and story below along with several news stories which his wife Kay researched extensively that prove that Fort Worth did indeed get a fountain - and they own it!

David stumbled upon our Facebook page and he told us that he has owned the remnants of the fountain for the last 35 years. As he told us he, "..bought fountain remnants from a rancher who was using it to water cattle. He said he bought it from a salvage sale in Fort Worth many years ago and it was allegedly from a fountain outside a "courthouse or other govt building". David added the statue on top and he was wondering if we knew anything about a NHA fountain in Fort Worth. We did not until he continued to find more evidence.

The two articles showed that Fort Worth tried to secure one in 1909 and more importantly installed it in 1910. The articles did not say clearly where it was installed, but we do know from the 1910 article that the original installation was great for dogs and cats, but needed some alterations for the horses as you can see when you read the story.

1909 Story

1910 Story

David then found this great picture from the Fort Worth collection of historic photos(https://mapitwest.fortworthtexas.gov/historicphotos/) which shows the fountain in the middle of a triangle with a much larger monument and a church in the background. We've highlighted the fountain in the second view to make it easier to see. You can click on the images for a larger view.

So now the question became what happened to the fountain that caused it to eventually end up in David's possession - and David and Kay found the answer in this 1926 article:

As you can see, David's fountain had suffered the same fate as several others - it had become a nuisance and almost consigned to the trash bin of history! Luckily, some rancher saw a redeeming value in the bowl as did David and this important piece of history as been preserved.

We also thought you might enjoy a current Google map picture of the triangle where the fountain was originally located:

So, thanks to David and Kay Hunn we have now officially adding David's fountain to our list of National Humane Alliance Fountains. Thank you David and we hope that this article may aide you in fully restoring the fountain!

For more on the National Humane Alliance Fountains click here.