DC Part II

One of the slightly strange thing to do on my list involved a man buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. The one who donated drinking fountains which ran afoul of art lovers. There is one in DC. I planned to find it. During a moment of shock (to be explained in part III) I needed something to do. I was standing on a street corner somewhere in DC and decided to look up the Temperance Fountain to see how far away it might be. I became rather frustrated with Google Maps when it kept showing me where I was with no other markers. Finally I zoomed in enough on my tiny phone screen to see it wasn't directing me to exactly where I was standing but just across the street. I looked up and there it was. It was hideous.

But seriously? I decided to look it up when I was standing directly across the street from it. At that point in my day I was so happy to have anything be easy that it seemed a miracle.

I will admit, I had hoped the fountain would be slightly more garish and flamboyant. It's ugly - but I don't know that I am repelled by it enough to disassemble the thing in fury as the mob in San Francisco did.

But judge for yourself.

The thought of getting drinking water from the mouth of a fish with teeth like that is not appealing. With this marketing strategy it's no wonder the temperance movement didn't take off the way Cogswell anticipated. It he wanted to get people out of the bars he should have followed French style - exchange the fish for a naked woman with a jug that the water flows out of. I wonder if Cogswell left an explanation of the fountain's design somewhere?