Henry Cogswell

Henry D. Cogswell
Henry D. Cogswell, ca. 1850-52
Born	(1820-03-03)March 3, 1820 Tolland, Connecticut
Died	July 8, 1900(1900-07-08) (aged 80)
Occupation	Dentist
Known for	Temperance

External image

Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Common. Cogswell drinking fountain

Dr. Henry Daniel Cogswell (March 3, 1820 – July 8, 1900) was an American dentist and a crusader in the temperance movement. Cogswell and his wife Caroline also founded Cogswell College in San Jose, California. Another campus in Everett, Washington was later dedicated in his honor.

Born in Tolland, Connecticut, as a youth, he worked in the New England cotton mills and studied by night. He became a dentist in Providence, Rhode Island at age 26. When the California Gold Rush started, the Cogswell family decided to go west. However, they did not do any mining themselves. Instead, he offered dentistry services to miners and invested in real estate and mining stocks, becoming one of San Francisco's first millionaires. A pioneer in his field, Cogswell designed the vacuum method of securing dental plates and was the first in California to perform a dental operation using chloroform.

Cogswell believed that if people had access to cool drinking water they wouldn't consume alcoholic beverages. It was his dream to construct one temperance fountain for every 100 saloons across the United States and many were built. These drinking fountains were elaborate structures built of granite that Cogswell designed himself.

Cogswell's fountains can be found in Washington, D.C., Tompkins Square Park New York City,Washington Square, San FranciscoPawtucket, Rhode Island, and Rockville, Connecticut. Other examples were erected and then torn down at: Buffalo, Rochester, Boston Common, (removed 1900) Fall River, Massachusetts, Pacific Grove, California,San Jose, California, and San Francisco (California and Market Streets). The concept of providing drinking fountains as alternatives to saloons was later implemented by the Women's Christian Temperance Union.