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Drinking fountains in the United States

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This is a list of drinking fountains in the United States. A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and swallows water directly from the stream.

Creation of public drinking fountains was supported by the Temperance Movement, which advocated abstinence from alcohol and saw providing free fresh water as furthering its cause. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874, sponsored fountains in towns and cities across the United States.[1] Henry D. Cogswell, a dentist who made a fortune in San Francisco real estate, sponsored dozens of artistic fountains, some of which were adorned with a statue of himself.

A parallel movement concerned with animal welfare resulted in the founding of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866. One of its concerns was the difficulty of finding fresh water for work horses in urban areas. Combination drinking fountains that provided a bubbler for people and a water trough for horses, and sometimes a lower basin for dogs, became popular.

Privately-sponsored drinking fountains were often commissioned as, or adorned with, works of art. These were frequently created as memorials to individuals, serving an ongoing utilitarian purpose as well as an artistic one.

Name Image Location Designer(s) Year Usage Notes
American Legion Memorial
World War I Memorial
Swope Park,
Kansas City, Missouri
Merrell Gage, sculptor
G. B. Franklin, architect
Chicago Art Bronze Works, foundry
1921 For people
Bagley Memorial Fountain Detroit, Michigan Henry Hobson Richardson, architect 1887 For people Water flows from the lions' mouths.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Benson Bubbler Portland, Oregon A. E. Doyle, architect 1912 For people Philanthropist Simon Benson initially installed 20 four-bowl drinking fountains.
Portland now features 52 four-bowl Benson Bubblers and 74 single-bowl ones.
Burnside Fountain Worcester Common,
Worcester, Massachusetts
Henry Bacon, architect
Charles Y. Harvey, sculptor
Sherry Edmundson Fry, sculptor
1912 For people, horses and dogs Harvey's Pan-like figure is nicknamed "Turtle Boy."
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Class of '92 Fountain[2]
"The Scholar and the Football Player"
Quadrangle Dormitories,
University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alexander Stirling Calder, sculptor
Bureau Brothers, foundry
1900 For people
Lotta's Fountain
Lotta Crabtree Fountain
Market, Geary & Kearny Streets,
San Francisco, California
1875 For people File:LottaFountain3.jpg The fountain in 1905.
Actress Lotta Crabtree donated the fountain.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Lotta Fountain
Lotta Crabtree Fountain
The Esplanade,
Boston, Massachusetts
John W. Ames, architect
Edwin Dodge, architect
Katharine Lane Weems, sculptor
1939 For cats and dogs
The fountain was a bequest from actress Lotta Crabtree.
Dancing Bears Fountain[3]
Children's Fountain
Center Park,
Manchester, Connecticut
Albert Humphreys, sculptor
Pomponian Bronze Works, foundry
1909 For people
Ellis Fountain Old Fayette County Courthouse,
Lexington, Kentucky
William Ingram, sculptor
Lexington Granite Company
1921 For people and dogs
Fireman's Drinking Fountain Main Street,
Slatington, Pennsylvania
J. W. Fiske & Company 1909 For people and dogs Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Gumbel Memorial Fountain Audubon Park,
New Orleans, Louisiana
Isidore Konti, sculptor 1918 For people, horses and dogs "The Meeting of Air and Water"
James Fountain
Union Square Drinking Fountain
Union Square Park,
Manhattan, New York City
J. Leonard Corning, architect
Karl Adolph Donndorf, sculptor
1881 For people and dogs Donated by Daniel Willis James and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.[4]
Kilbon Memorial Fountain[5] Town Park
Lee, Massachusetts
Daniel Chester French, sculptor 1899 For people and horses Water flows from the mouth of a mask of Konkapot, a Mohican chief.
Charles B. Merrick Memorial Drinking Fountain SE Sandy Street,
Portland, Oregon
1916 For people
Merrill Humane Fountain Palmer Park,
Detroit, Michigan
Carrere & Hastings, architects 1901
relocated 1925
For people, horses and dogs Merrill Humane Fountain, c. 1906
Miller Memorial Fountain Commerce & Main Streets,
Natchez, Mississippi
1911 For people, horses and dogs
Murphy Memorial Drinking Fountain Carroll County Courthouse,
Delphi, Indiana
Myra Reynolds Richards, sculptor 1918 For people Richards posing with her sculpture.
"Pioneer Woman"[6]
"Joy"
Council Crest Park,
Portland, Oregon.
Frederick Littman, sculptor 1956
Pope Fountain[7]
Albert A. Pope Memorial Fountain
Pope Park,
Hartford, Connecticut
George W. Keller, architect
Lee Lawrie, sculptor
1913
relocated 1964
For people and horses Includes a bronze portrait medallion of Albert A. Pope.
Probasco Fountain Clifton Avenue,
Cincinnatti, Ohio
Samuel Hannaford, architect 1887 For people, horses and dogs Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Shemanski Fountain South Park Blocks,
Portland, Oregon
Carl L. Linde, architect
Oliver Laurence Barrett, sculptor
1925-26
1928
For people and dogs Barrett's figure of "Rebecca at the Well" was added in 1928.
Skidmore Fountain SW First & Ankeny Streets
Portland, Oregon
Olin Levi Warner, sculptor 1888 For people, horses and dogs
Temperance Fountain (San Francisco)
Cogswell Fountain
Benjamin Franklin Statue
Washington Square,
San Francisco, California
Henry D. Cogswell, designer
Unknown sculptor
1879
relocated 1904
For people Originally located on Market Street. Altered. No longer a fountain.
Temperance Fountain (Tompkins Square Park)[8]
Cogswell Fountain
Tompkins Square Park,
Manhattan, New York City
Henry D. Cogswell, designer
Unknown sculptor
1888 For people "Hebe" (after a statue by Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen).
Temperance Fountain (Washington, D.C.)
Cogswell Fountain
7th Street & Indiana Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.
Henry D. Cogswell, designer
Unknown sculptor
1882-84 For people and horses
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
U. S. Capitol Grounds Drinking Fountain United States Capitol Grounds,
Washington, D.C.
Frederick Law Olmsted, architect 1874 For people
Carrie Welton Fountain
"Horse on The Green"
The Green,
Waterbury, Connecticut
Karl Gerhardt, sculptor 1888 For people and horses File:XchangePlace1950s.jpg Carrie Welton Fountain (foreground).
Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountain Bridgeport, Connecticut Gutzon Borglum, sculptor 1913 For people and horses A fountain for people, 3 water troughs for horses.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
J. William White Memorial Drinking Fountain Rittenhouse Square,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
R. Tait McKenzie, sculptor 1921 For people Portrait medallion of J. William White (1919).
Woman's Christian Temperance Union Fountain Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 1929 For people Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union Fountain,
Monroe County Courthouse
Monroe County Courthouse,
Bloomington, Indiana
1913 For people
Women's Christian Temperance Union Public Fountain[9] Clarinda & Sheridan Streets,
Shenandoah, Iowa
1912 For people Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Woodland Cemetery Drinking Fountain Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum,
Dayton, Ohio
Karl Bitter, sculptor 1908-09 For people Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

References

  1. ^ WCTU Drinking Fountains – Then and Now, from Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
  2. ^ Class of '92 Fountain, from University of Pennsylvania.
  3. ^ Dancing Bears Fountain, from Manchester Historical Society.
  4. ^ Union Square Drinking Fountain, from NYC Parks.
  5. ^ Daniel Chester French, from Town of Lee, Massachusetts.
  6. ^ Joy (Pioneer Woman), from Public Art Archive.
  7. ^ Colonel Pope Fountain, from Hartford Signs.
  8. ^ Tompkins Square Park Temperance Fountain, from NYC Parks.
  9. ^ WCTU Fountain, Shenandoah, from Bleeding Heartland.