Drinking fountains in the United States

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 Temperance 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 (and designed) dozens of artistic fountains, some of which were adorned with a statue of himself.

A concurrent 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 works of art. Sculptors such as Karl Bitter, Gutzon Borglum and Daniel Chester French; and architects such as Frederick Law Olmsted and Henry Hobson Richardson collaborated on them. 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.
Benjamin Franklin (Washington Square) Temperance Fountain Cogswell Historical Monument		Washington Square, San Francisco, California	Henry D. Cogswell, designer Unknown sculptor	1879 relocated 1904	For people	Originally located at Market & Kearny Streets. Altered. No longer a fountain.
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 1892 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	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 people, 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.
Annie L. Lowry Memorial Fountain		Bainbridge Street median strip at 3rd Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		1910	For horses and dogs	"Drink Gentle Friends" Erected by the Women's Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Jessie Tennille Maschmeyer Memorial Fountain[6] "Zuni Bird Charmer"		St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri	Walker Hancock, sculptor Roman Bronze Works, foundry	1932	For people.	The granite plinth features a life-sized bronze figure of a Zuni bird charmer at center and bubbler at each end.
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"[7] "Joy"		Council Crest Park, Portland, Oregon.	Frederick Littman, sculptor	1956
Pope Fountain[8] 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, Cincinnati, Ohio	Samuel Hannaford, architect	1887	For people, horses and dogs	Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Rebecca at the Well Mary Rebecca Darby Smith Memorial Fountain		Horticultural Drive, West Fairmount Park Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	John J. Boyle, sculptor	1908 relocated 1934	For people Originally, for people, horses and dogs	"Drink, and I will give thy Camels Drink also." Originally installed on the Spring Garden Street median strip at 12th Street. Relocated to West Fairmount Park, 1934.
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	The octagonal basin spills into 4 water troughs for horses and dogs.
Charles Taft Fountain[9]		Cleveland Circle, Brookline, Massachusetts	Coolidge & Carleson, architects	1912	For people, horses and dogs
Temperance Fountain (Philadelphia)		Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		1876 Relocated 1877 Removed to storage 1969	For people	Under a 13-sided gazebo at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Erected by the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance. Cost: $2,300 Installed outside Independence Hall, 1877-1969
Temperance Fountain (Tompkins Square Park)[10] 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	Water flowed from the dolphins' mouths. 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	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 (Bloomington, Indiana)		Monroe County Courthouse, Bloomington, Indiana		1913	For people
Woman's Christian Temperance Union Fountain (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)		Rehoboth Avenue & the boardwalk, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware		1929	For people	Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union Fountain (Shenandoah, Iowa)[11]		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. Zuni Bird Charmer, from SIRIS.
7. Joy (Pioneer Woman), from Public Art Archive.
8. Colonel Pope Fountain, from Hartford Signs.
9. Charles Taft Fountain, Boston Architectural Club Yearbook, 1912, p. 12.
10. Tompkins Square Park Temperance Fountain, from NYC Parks.
11. WCTU Fountain, Shenandoah, from Bleeding Heartland.