Before the Prohibition Era in the 1920s, Temperance was sweeping across the United States, a movement to limit the use of alcohol. Concerned with the overindulgence of American drinkers, the earliest temperance reformers were primarily women who bravely protested against the use of alcohol and how it seemed to cause men to commit domestic violence against women.

By 1831, there were over two dozen women’s organizations dedicated to temperance, which had been painted as a religious and moral duty that paired well with other feminine responsibilities. One of those organizations was called the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union which was founded in 1873. By the following year, it had become a national social reform and lobbying organization with local chapters popping up all across the United States. In 1887, the Park River Temperance League was formed, hoping to clean up drinking manners and morals of the community.

At the time, the culture of alcohol on the frontier of Dakota Territory and then North Dakota was quite robust. In 1885, 11 saloons served a population of 450 residents in Park River. The city was not willing to put too much effort into combating alcohol sales, largely because of the revenue obtained from saloons. Illegal liquor sales were difficult to prevent as those sellers became a permanent part of the town’s culture.

Since 1874, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was encouraging members and communities to erect drinking fountains to provide a place for horses, dogs, and people to drink. They were as unique as the communities they were built in, though sadly, many were destroyed by vandals who opposed the temperance movement shortly after they were constructed. Many of the fountains have been lost or forgotten over time, some remain to this day.

The Woman’s Park River Fountain was constructed in 1906 by Ed Herwik and cost an estimated $300. Standing over eleven feet tall and surrounded by twenty-five foot square rail, the cement fountain was certainly a sight to see, its scotch granite ornamentation gleaming in the sunlight. In 1934, the fountain became the site of a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark, a mark intended to be permanent. While the fountain in Park River was restored in 1984, long after temperance and the prohibition era, it has lost its historical integrity and has fallen into a state of disrepair. However, the history of the fountain remains, a legacy of the temperance movement which paved the road to Prohibition.