This over 100-year-old Ensign animal fountain was designed to be a combination horse trough and dog/cat watering station. These fountains were given away to cities by the National Humane Association, acting on instructions from the Estate of Hermon Ensign, who left them a fortune for this purpose.
Texarkana Arkansas's Ensign Fountain was installed near the turn-of-the-century, when horse powered transportation meant you moved by the power of real horses.
This water trough would have been a welcome place to stop for all the horses who trod State Line Boulevard on their way to the shared post office between Texas and Arkansas before the advent of the horseless carriage.
The plaque on the fountain reads simply:
"1909
Presented by the
National Humane Alliance
Hermon Lee Ensign founder"
The horse trough has been restored and operates today (2015) as a decorative fountain in a landscaped street median.
For more on this historic fountain, see here: (
visit link)
"Ensign Fountain -- The Ensign Fountain has been placed in the newly landscaped island at the intersection of East Seventh and N. Stateline Ave. There are 125 Ensign Fountains in the United States and we feel privileged to have one of them in Texarkana, Arkansas. With the recent redesign of the island, it is a more prominent historic feature in our city that heritage tourists seek out, like the photo island in front of the US Post Office and federal building. Eventually, we are going to add the Ensign fountain as a feature in our historic walking trail brochure. Please see description and photos attached.
ENSIGN FOUNTAIN
1909- the National Humane Alliance gives Texarkana the Hermon Lee Ensign fountain as a gift. It now sits at Seventh Street and Stateline Avenue. Initially it was placed in front of the downtown post office as a watering trough for horses and dogs and to improve scenery. It was moved after townspeople objected to it because it collected refuse and attracted flies. In 1926 it was moved because automobiles had mostly replaced horse-drawn vehicles.
1909 – Herman Lee Ensign Fountain
presented by National Humane Alliance, Hermon Lee Ensign, founder.
Fountain Memorial Park, 7th and State Line
Arkansas Garden Club Council project – 1965-1967
Granite bench: fountain is a symbol of a past era. Horses in our Ark-Tex town drank water from fountain at various locations.
. . . [The Ensign fountain] features an ingenious design of water flowing from a lion’s mouth into a basin of polished main granite trimmed with bronze. The upper bowl was for horses and the small cups at bottom for cats and dogs."