Before the automobile, individuals and businesses depended on four-legged  transportation. Hermon Lee Ensign, philanthropist, and animal rights advocate, founded the National Humane Alliance in 1897. Part of his vision was to donate fountains free of charge so communities could provide water for horses, dogs and cats. Clinton received notice of its fountain in 1912 after a two-year campaign by the local Humane Society to acquire it. The fountain’s plaque states that it was built in 1911; however, a local newspaper reported its arrival in 1913. Originally, it stood in the intersection on the square’s southwest corner and included an electric light. Later, the fountain was moved to the northwest corner and later still to its current location out of the way of traffic. According to a historic trade journal, the fountains cost approximately $1,000 to build. About 125 made their way across the country from the Bodwell Granite Company in Maine. The company also supplied the stone blocks for the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.