Weird Island

44. BUBBLERS: Cogswell’s Infamous Fountains


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In the middle of downtown Pawtucket, there’s an old, no longer functioning drinking fountain that most people assume is just a statue. But it’s one of only a handful of remaining Temperance Fountains, donated to the city by a man who believed that the solution to drunkenness might just be a glass of fresh, cold water. 

To Visit: Corner of Roosevelt Ave and Main Street, Pawtucket RI | You can map to 175 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860

Episode Source Material: 

  • Debunking the the bubbler myth
  • Henry D. Cogswell - Wikipedia
  • Boston Daily Globe | September 27, 1893
  • Temperance fountain - Wikipedia
  • “God's Free Gift to Man and Beast” - Henry Cogswell's Temperance Fountains | Rhode Tour
  • Dubuque Daily Herald | March 6, 1885
  • Sandy Creek News | July 28, 1887
  • Frederick Weekly News | May 29, 1884
  • Brooklyn Daily Eagle | July 16, 1883
  • Thompsonville Press | May 5, 1881
  • Stafford Springs Press | October 8, 1885
  • “All Benefactors of Man I Claim as My Brethren”: Henry D. Cogswell and his Fountains of Philanthropy | SPMC
  • Tompkins Square Park Monuments - Temperance Fountain
  • Cogswell Memorial Fountain
  • Temperance Fountain: Nobody Knows How Dry It Was - Heyday DC
  • Jenks Park and Cogswell Tower , Adjoining £80 Broad Street to the north Providence Central .Falls
  • Pawtucket Walking Tour
  • Shenipsit Lake - Wikipedia
  • Temperance Fountain – Washington, DC - Atlas Obscura
  • Prohibition: A Case Study of Progressive Reform | Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929 | US History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
  • History of Drinking Water Treatment
  • Women Led the Temperance Charge – Prohibition: An Interactive History
  • A Brief History of US Drinking - JSTOR Daily
  • The time when Americans drank all day long - BBC News
  • Access to Free Public Water Fountains Might Have the Temperance Movement to Thank
  • 13 Weird Moments In The History Of Water Fountains | HuffPost Life
  • New York Times | June 11, 1859
  • Mark Twain: The Complete Interviews
...more
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