When the switch was turned and Oregon’s historic water fountain Iron Mike began to flow again, the rush of water meant more to Sandy Greenfield than just a refreshing sip.

“My dad and mom met here around 1936,” said Greenfield, a longtime Forreston resident who now lives in Byron. “They were at a band concert on the courthouse lawn and were standing in front of Iron Mike when Dad said he took some of my mom’s popcorn and...here I am.”

Greenfield was one of nearly 70 people who turned out June 24 to watch as the 1901 free-flowing fountain was re-dedicated after a 2-year restoration and relocation project, led by Mike Bowers of Oregon.

City and county officials decided to move the free-flowing fountain after a wayward car almost hit it a few years ago. It’s new location is a few yards south of its former location (at the intersection of Illinois 64 and Illinois 2) to the northeast corner of the Courthouse Square.

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

“The Illinois Humane Society provided the Iron Mike water fountain to the City of Oregon in June of 1901, 120 years ago,” said Bowers, project manager and former Superintendent of Streets for the City of Oregon.

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.

Bowers said The Illinois 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. 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,” he said as the crowd chuckled.

Bowers said originally 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 from the fountains.

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.”

In 2010 the top decorative cap was stolen and was replicated by the Nennah Foundry Company after he was able to borrow the top from a similar fountain in front of the Flagg Township Museum in Rochelle. That fountain is turned on only when the museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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

One of the benches located behind Iron Mike is inscribed: “In Loving Memory of Charles H. and Hazel I Ehmen” — Greenfield’s mom and dad.

“When we asked my dad what he wanted as a memorial he said he wanted something ‘right behind Iron Mike because that’s where I met your mom’, ” Greenfield said. “Iron Mike is very special to us and it is very special to everyone who grew up in Oregon.”