Another of Cranbrook's Fountains

The 1939 I.O.D.E Drinking Fountain missing hardware.

The I.O.D.E. Drinking Fountain

The current location of this drinking fountain was discovered in a chance conversation with a city employee recently.  A few residents have been wondering what happened to it when the Spirit Square project required its removal from Rotary Park.  It may not look like much in this photograph but it does in fact have quite a history.  The working fountain used to sit between the previous location of the Fink Fountain in Rotary Park and the Cenotaph.  The Fink Fountain has now been relocated to the Centennial Garden and the deteriorating I. O.D. E. Drinking Fountain sits in the city works yard in a location where the plaque telling its history is hidden from view.

In a letter to City Council dated July 4th of this year Jim Cameron asks the city, "on behalf of those who came before and in whose memory the fountain was originally erected by the Imperial Daughters of the Order of the Empire and entrusted to the city of Cranbrook, to restore and return the fountain to its original location."

There have in fact been two I.O.D.E. Drinking Fountains.  The Imperial Daughters of the Order of the Empire were a group of active ladies who raised funds in order to send care packages to soldiers fighting overseas in World War 1.  The group remained active, according to Cameron, until the mid 1920's when their services were no longer required.  Their remaining funds were used to build a the original commemorative fountain in Rotary Park.  The group reformed in 1939 and replaced the original crumbling fountain with the one pictured above.  As Jim Cameron points out, this fountain is a dedicated memorial and also was a much appreciated feature of Rotary Park.  

Cranbrook in Bloom undertook the restoration and relocation of the Fink Fountain.  Is there a group out there who might like to take this one on?