This western style ceramic fountain has been standing, presumably at this location, since September 14th, 1911, on which date it was presented to the town by the Ladies Civic Improvement Club. Sixty Five years later, in 1976, a plaque was mounted nearby on a small concrete plinth which reads as follows:
NEWPORT'S DRINKING FOUNTAIN
SERVING MAN BEAST AND DOG
FOR THREE GENERATIONS
ERECTED BY
LADIES CIVIC IMPROVEMENT CLUB
SEPTEMBER 14, 1911
PLAQUE DEDICATED BY
NEWPORT-OLDTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
1976
The fountain was one of many produced by the Illinois Humane Society as a fund raising project for the society and purchased by the Newport Ladies Civic Improvement Club.
There were few opportunities a century ago for travelers on the streets of Chicago to obtain fresh drinking water. In 1877, the Illinois Humane Society began erecting public drinking fountains. They commissioned a design "both pleasing and practical" by which water would flow at three levels, for people at the top, then horses, and finally dogs and small animals near the ground level. The cost was US$70 per fountain, plus $60 for a hookup to the city water pipes, including the services of a plumber and stonemason.
From Wiki