The shepherd's fountain was created in 1904 by the Osnabrück sculptor Lukas Memken and stands south-west of Rosenplatz in front of the Italian restaurant Da Paolo.
The original fountain consisted of a copper figure depicting a shepherd (Heinrich Adolf Ströker). The shepherd in question is holding a lamb under his right arm and a walking stick in his left hand. However, today's fountain has been slightly altered. It was created in 1950 by the Osnabrück sculptor Georg Hörnschemeyer and consists of a new sandstone figure. The stele now has a square shape and the spouts have also been changed.

As befits a proper shepherd who only ever stands in one place for a certain amount of time, the fountain wandered around Rosenplatz over the decades until, like all men, it was conscripted into the military during the Second World War. Since then, the original copper figure has been missing.

The Osnabrück sculptor Georg Hörnschemeyer then created this new figure on behalf of the Neustadt Citizens' Association. The figure was deliberately made of sandstone, because in 1950 it was not certain whether a copper figure would not have been melted down again. It was then placed in its current form at the junction with Kommanderiestraße. It only remained in this position until 1961, however, as the traffic routing at the time regularly led to chaotic traffic situations. The entire square had to be adapted. Therefore, from 1962, its new location was a few metres away from its current location. It then stood there for almost 50 years until it was dismantled and put into storage in 2009 as part of the redesign of Rosenplatz. 

Thanks to the initiative of Susanne Ahrens, chairwoman of the citizens' office for the redesign of Rosenplatz, who put in a good word with Federal Minister Boris Pistorius, the fountain was able to be reinstalled almost in its old location when Rosenplatz was completed in 2011. Since then, the water has come from the  Restaurant Da Paolo.