This is a history and list ofdrinking 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. Drinking water fountains are most commonly found in heavy usage areas like public amenities, schools, airports, and museums.
History
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. Henry D. Cogswell, a dentist and temperance crusader 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 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. In particular, over 120 National Humane Alliance fountains were donated to communities across the United States between 1903 and 1913. The fountains were the gift of philanthropist Hermon Lee Ensign. 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. Drinking fountains in the United States were often subject to racial segregation, until all legally enforced public segregation was abolished by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
