The house where the fountain is located was originally the Guesthouse ‚Zum Grünen Wald‘, From this comes the name of the Grünewald fountain. It is fed by other fountains in Borngasse. Its first documented mention dates back to 1482. For centuries, the residents of the Untere Straße supplied themselves with water here.
Right next to the ‚Zum Grünen Wald‘ inn was the ‚Krone‘ inn. This building was later owned by the family of the Deputy Commissioner Christoph Abraham Herpell accepted and with the stipulation that a Educational institution established, the city donated it. The assets of the Herpell siblings served as the founding capital of a foundation, from whose funds the Herpell School was founded in 1919 as a higher school for boys and girls. However, this school only existed for a short time; ten years after its founding, it was dissolved again. The house still bears the name ‚Herpellhaus‘ today.