Oregon’s historic water fountain back in action

OREGON — Oregon’s iconic Iron Mike water fountain is up and running again – waiting to whet whistles of those on two or four legs.

The 1901 free-flowing fountain was officially turned on for the 2024 season by Mike Bowers, Jeff Pennington and Scott Wallace.

Bowers, Oregon’s former superintendent of streets, and Wallace and Pennington, of the city’s department of public works, switched the fountain on last week – just in time for the summer-like temperatures.

The fountain was re-dedicated in 2021 after a 2-year restoration and relocation project, led by Bowers.

In 2019, city and Ogle County officials decided to move the fountain away from the intersection of state routes 64 and 2 to the northeast corner of the Ogle County Courthouse Square after a wayward car almost hit it.

When Iron Mike was turned on in 2021, it was discovered he had a few broken parts that required repair. Art Casting of Illinois casted the replacement parts and Dale Beesing [Beesing Welding] did the final machining on the repairs.

The fountain was cleaned, sandblasted and repainted by E.D. Etnyre Co. at its Oregon facility and then stored at the street department over the winter as COVID-19 delayed the project.

Local workers helped create the new area for the fountain, which included two memorial benches and repurposed bricks from an Oregon street.

The Illinois Humane Society provided the Iron Mike water fountain to the city of Oregon in June 1901.

Iron Mike has three drinking levels, one for dogs, one for horses and one for people, and was endorsed by the Illinois Humane Society when it was forged.

The Humane Society provided water fountains to offer fresh drinking water to the horses pulling carriages in Chicago and Milwaukee.

“They felt that the horses were being mistreated so they wanted fresh water for the horses but then it turned to cats, dogs and children,” Bowers said during the fountain’s reinstallation. “The Women’s Christian Temperance Union also felt that if fresh water was available, it would deter people from going to the taverns. I don’t know how successful that was.”

There were cups on little posts near the top of the barrel of the fountain, but it was later discovered that sharing cups was responsible for spreading sickness and disease so they were removed.

Bowers thanked numerous individuals, businesses, and city and county officials for helping with the restoration and relocation project and working together to complete the task.

“This relocation project was quite involved,” he said. “We had a lot of people step up to the plate.”

Iron Mike’s long residence in the city has been marked with some ups and downs. In 2010, his top decorative cap was stolen. It eventually was replicated by the Nennah Foundry Co., modeled after the top of a similar fountain in front of the Flagg Township Museum in Rochelle. That fountain is turned on only when the museum is open.