In January 1894, a group put a rope around the neck of a statue of Henry Cogswell and pulled. The likeness came down from a drinking fountain at California and Market streets in San Francisco and broke into fragments. The dentist who had paid for it was still alive. He had been trying to give people a glass of water.[1]

Beginning in 1878, Cogswell arranged to send fountains to towns around the country. He had made his fortune after moving west during the Gold Rush, through dentistry and investments in property and mining stocks. He wanted people to choose cold water over liquor, and he could afford to build them places to do it.[2][3]

On top of many fountains stood a figure Cogswell called the "Guardian of the Fountain," holding a scroll in one hand and a glass in the other. It resembled Cogswell. Engravings below told passersby to work hard and avoid dissipation. Anyone who only wanted a drink had been given quite a lot to look at.[2]

In Rochester, New York, an unidentified group smashed one of his statues with crowbars in 1885. The San Francisco figure lasted until January 1894. Writing that month, The New York Times suggested that the people who pulled it down were either letting off high spirits or expressing their dislike of the sculpture. The paper left their motives open. Its own objection to the statue was quite plain.[1][2]

The Times art columnist reported that many Bostonians considered his fountain "an offense to lovers of art." Even so, the column objected to the San Francisco demolition. It wanted unwanted public statues removed by public request rather than by a self-appointed committee. Even a critic who wanted the statue gone balked at the rope around its neck.[1]

In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, residents greeted their fountain with speeches and song in 1880. This one had a heron on top. Higher spouts served people; lower ones served thirsty animals. A person could approach it without encountering a life-size version of the man who wanted to improve their habits.[2]

When Pawtucket moved the fountain to Oak Grove Cemetery, mourners thought it too cheerful for the setting. Removing the word "Welcome" from the base did not settle the matter. The fountain went to Slater Park in 1904 and returned downtown in 1990. Pawtucket kept finding reasons to move it, then eventually brought it back.[2]

On the foreheads of the Pawtucket fountain's cat-like faces, marks remain where rings once held drinking cups. Rhode Tour describes the fountain as defunct. After the speeches, the cemetery complaints and the trips across town, you can still find the little attachment points where a thirsty stranger was supposed to reach for a cup.[2]

Sources

  1. The New York Times: Current News of the Fine Arts (January 14, 1894)
  2. Rhode Tour: Henry Cogswell's Temperance Fountains
  3. Wikipedia: Henry D. Cogswell

Archival image: San Francisco Morning Call, January 3, 1894, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the United States. Contemporary illustration of the broken San Francisco statue.