Fountain hiking trail through Ehingen

In earlier times, there were usually two types of fountains. One type were bucket or draw wells, where water was drawn from the depths using buckets attached to a rope or chain running over a pulley. A wooden frame, on which the pulley was mounted, usually rested on the parapet of the well shaft, and the whole was covered. This created a small „fountain house“.

The other type were pipe fountains, running fountains with pipes from which water flowed, supplied through pipes from an elevated container. Later, pump fountains appeared and soon outnumbered them.

A fountain house with a draw well stood in Ehingen in the inner courtyard of the hospital near the hospital kitchen. It was called a „Galtbrunnen“ (gallows device?). A „gallows fountain“ already stood in 1516 near the benefice house of the St. Anna chapel, which Hieronymus Winckelhofer founded that year.

A well-known fountain was also the „Weberbrunnen“ in Webergasse near the entrance, probably originally a draw well.

The most famous „pipe fountain“ stood on the marketplace at the northeast corner. Around 1650 Martin Zeiller spoke of the „cheerful pipe box“ on the market in Ehingen.

In 1798, among the public fountains mentioned were „the pipe fountain on the marketplace made of stones with 4 Mossen pipes and a lead basin in the box“, a pipe fountain with 3 pipes in the upper town made of oak wood (on the main street near the Winckelhofer family house; the old name „wheel fountain“ probably refers to its former function as a draw well), and a „kastel“ at the college with only one pipe.

A well-known pipe fountain was also the Kästlesbrunnen in the lower town, which seems to have been mentioned already in 1571 and draws water from Frauenberg.

A „running fountain“ also belonged to the Speth estate near the college, for which an annual water rent of 34 k 4 h was paid. The Michaelsbrunnen on Lammberg commemorates the Michaels chapel there.

Pipe fountains had to be supplied either from a higher source or from an elevated water container. In the latter case, a „fountain house“ was needed, i.e. a water storage from which water was raised into the tank so that it could be supplied to the fountain through pipes. Such a fountain house stood down at the Schmiech, where it entered the town near the Heckenmühle. With the help of the water power of the Schmiech itself, the water was raised, in Vanotti's time, to a water tower next to the parish church. Most of the town was supplied with water from there. The fountain house was already mentioned around 1700. Later, one fountain house was no longer sufficient. By 1826, there were already two waterworks, from which water was supplied to the town through the second from the Weiherbach.

Of course, there were also a number of private fountains in the town. Pump fountains were long established. The old draw wells were gradually replaced by the more advantageous pump fountains. In 1798, there were 11 public (town-owned) pump fountains in the town. A town „fountain master“ first appears in 1703 in the person of Jakob Braun, carpenter and town foreman.

Enthusiasm was aroused in the town by the water pipeline built at a cost of 190,000 marks, which was put into operation in December 1877. For this purpose, a source north and south of the Weiherbach was captured, later supplemented by others near Riedlinger Straße. The reservoir was located on Wolfert. However, it was viewed with displeasure in the town that a few months later the figure of the Virgin Mary was removed from the pipe fountain on the marketplace after adorning the city for over 100 years, and the fountain itself was dismantled.

In 1881, parts of the market fountain (Renaissance lion masks) were used to renew the Kästlesbrunnen. Before the Second World War, the water supply was further expanded by a water supply from Stoffelberg and a reservoir there. Due to population growth, the water supply has recently been wisely resolved. A pumping station in the Danube valley pumps water up to the newly built 26-meter-high water tower and a large reservoir on Schillerhöhe. The previous facilities became obsolete; the new one has been in operation since June 5, 1952.