Dirt Nap City

What Were Drinking Fountains? A Dirt Nap City Dead End

• Dirt Nap City • Season 3 • Episode 49

Share episode

Do you remember going to recess at school, running around, getting hot and thirsty, and then lining up to get a drink at your school's water fountain? If not, then you missed out on something really special. Water fountains were common and used frequently not too long ago. But did you know that they originated as the primary source of clean water for most people in big cities a few hundred years ago? Or did you know that they are often associated with the temperance movement? In this episode, Kelly and Alex take a nostalgic look back at what some called drinking fountains, some called water fountains and some even called bubblers. We hope you're thirsty!

Dirt Nap City Dead Ends are short stories about the traditions, sayings, technologies, and businesses that used to be popular but now reside in Dirt Nap City.  If you have an idea for a Dirt Nap City Dead End story, drop us a line at our email address: not@dirtnapcity.com

If you like the content we are creating and would like to support it financially, check our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/DirtNapCityPodcast

Or, if you prefer to support us in another way, recommend an episode to one of your friends. We appreciate everyone who listens every month and look forward to making this podcast even better with your support.

Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!

Support the show

Dirt Nap City is the show about interesting dead people.
Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.
Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!

Kelly:

Hey Alex, how are you today?

Alex:

Hey, Kelly, what's up, man?

Kelly:

Man, I am feeling like I want to talk to you about another dead end. Another thing that of fallen off the wayside. You want to talk about that?

Alex:

Sure. Let's I'm always good talking about things that used to be and are not around anymore.

Kelly:

let's go back to elementary school. Let's go back to recess. And, and now you you were move to Texas?

Alex:

15.

Kelly:

Okay, well, that was that was after elementary school. But I don't know in Texas. As out on the playground during recess, right? You're playing tag playing football with your friends. about getting sweaty. You don't really care about you know how you look. You just you're just out hot, and you get really, really thirsty. And so what happens right after recess? What does

Alex:

must all run to the drinking fountain. Yes,

Kelly:

they do. Or is it called the water fountain? Or is it called the water bubbler? Or is the double double bubbler? Today, I'm talking about public water fountains. Man now let me just public or water fountain in general,

Alex:

you know, they have them where I work. And but they also have their fancy now where they also think I've used maybe one since COVID. But I remember the ones that you're talking about when I would come maybe about a quarter of an inch out of variety. There

Kelly:

was no water pressure, and you had to actually put your lips on it to grate

Alex:

on it. Now that is not hygienic at all. We loved the ones every now and then you'd get one water up and then it was then then everybody could Squirt, you know. Throw water on each other. Yeah,

Kelly:

great. Right? You put your thumb over it to create a gang? Well, yeah, I mean, water drinking last time I drank out of one was yesterday, because I was at an office and the office of one bathroom. The men's room was on the left women's rooms on the right. In the middle were two man, I know what I got to do with this. I even took pictures of it.

Alex:

I mean, I walked by when every day I just don't use them. But yeah, well, I

Kelly:

took a sip because I figured I needed to refresh myself. Now the big thing with the stream of water, like you said that comes out and hopefully comes out far enough that you don't have bend over. Sometimes they're chilled, sometimes they're not. But you find him in a lot of public libraries, right airports, and you still see him you still see him around, right?

Alex:

Ya know, like I said, I work at a university and we have several.

Kelly:

Well, that's probably because after recess, all those college kids come in and they're kind of marketed in the US by two different companies. That was the housy Willard Taylor the ones that sort of built the first water fountains. But over the years, the design has they were kind of steel. And you remember the refrigerated ones. They were more of a big square

Alex:

Yeah, Tommy son.

Kelly:

Well, one interesting thing. A lot of them you see now aren't like that. They aren't that big thing. They're more like a little shelf that sticks out. Do you know why? Well, and they ADA purposes, right? Yes, yes. People in wheelchairs, you know, children, all that sort of down lower. But back in the day, you know, we kind of appreciate the fact that we can turn on our bottled water. But back in the day, drinking water was a little harder to get a hold of Oh, yeah. And cities and countries introduced for general public, right. We never

Alex:

had bottles of water back in the day.

Kelly:

No, but we had water you could drink out of your Tap, right. But But 100 years ago, 200 years places like and Italy, you know, I'm talking about the city, Rome, or in England or in pretty much big fountains, these public fountains that have a column coming out of them, and usually a nozzle or water would come out. Do you know what those were called in Italy, but they were called nests, Sona, means large nose, because they look like kind of a person's face and the little thing that the water popping up all around in the 1870s. In Italy. They also started popping up all around in the United the world that has these public drinking fountains was Nepal, where they had some as early as 550 ad,

Alex:

550.

Kelly:

And here's the part that really blew your mind. Some of these in Nepal from like, 550 ad are they still actually

Alex:

use them. So it's all mechanical.

Kelly:

Yeah, there's no there's no computer. I mean, these were literally just like a fountain. to Germany a couple of years ago, there were a few places in Germany and Austria, where they had And they were from the 1800s. And people would come and fill up their buckets at them because

Alex:

Do you have to like turn a crank or anything to get the known

Kelly:

or the water just was continuously flowing out of it. It's just like a spigot with water

Alex:

Cool.

Kelly:

And y'all partook? We did, we did take a few sips of those. Now, interestingly, and in the when the I don't know if it was Parliament's or who created a metropolitan commission of sewers, sewers and fountains was designed to actually get rid of raw sewage, and make sure that it didn't that wasn't polluted for public to drink the public to drink from. So that was kind of a Metropolitan free drinking fountain Association. That was one of the first groups in London to form people get money, or sorry, several these fountains where people could get water. And months, they were being used by over 7000 people a day. Wow, wow, coming to get their water

Alex:

from them. A very important thing back in the day. Yeah.

Kelly:

But you know, what's interesting is, as we got into the late 1800s, early 1900s, these temperance and non drinking, they actually started to put these outside of pubs, and saloons in the saloons here. And evangelicals and religious people, religious leaders and temperance a way to encourage people to drink water. Because if you think about it, a lot of the water that actually very good quality. It was actually muddy or it tasted bad. And so people would drink beer, because the fermentation would make it more sanitary than water. So these religious groups things outside of these big public drinking fountains outside of pubs and saloons. And they I'm going to read you one of those says, Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall I shall give shall never thirst again.

Alex:

And did this work? Do you think?

Kelly:

Well, it gave people an option, right? Like before you could drink water and get sick or you drink water and not get

Alex:

sick. You said they put it outside the saloon

Kelly:

Yeah, this would be like in the street outside of a pub or a saloon with the Greek figure sees so fro seen software seen software seen software steam, but

Alex:

if I had planned on spending my night in a pub with my friends, and I just take a drink of three hours? Feel like the, the fountain should have been inside the saloon with like little

Kelly:

well, these were, these were I mean, these were pretty big things. And they were pretty still wanted you to be able to get this fresh water. Yeah, that's

Alex:

true. That's true. And

Kelly:

this was going on in, in in England and Paris. Again, in the old west, in the in the making these public fountains. And this was like the Women's Christian Temperance, Temperance things. So they did, they became known as temperance fountains, that was kind of a name I because they felt like, you know, back in the day with horses, there weren't enough places for combine a fountain for people fountain for water and sometimes even a base and at the bottom for

Alex:

our local park has a fountain and then has a lower one for for dogs. The

Kelly:

original design of these things, when they started becoming industrialized, was a pipe that water coming out of it. And the problem with that was you put your mouth on it, and the water would anything, any sort of infection or bacteria or, you know, contagion that you had, would fall back was talking about that earlier, he came up with the idea of the Bubbler and the double bubbler. the double bubbler, you probably seen this that shot out from two directions left and right. So you drank. Well, I

Alex:

haven't seen that. But that sounds like a good invention. Well, of course,

Kelly:

you know, the the Health Department got involved. And pretty soon, you had to have a their mouse on it and to keep water from going back. You know what I'm talking about? It was like

Alex:

fact, I remember. Not an insignificant number of kids would get their teeth chipped on

Kelly:

Right, right. You've leaned down too quick, and it was solid metal or the bully

Alex:

behind you would would push your head down ever happened to me. But man, I

Kelly:

apologize for that. I'm sorry.

Alex:

But no, I remember kids getting their teeth chipped on that day, because the bullies would

Kelly:

I mean, those and those Actually, according to some government records, those had to be at some places. So you know, there was some some contagion and some sickness that happened between with lead piping, you know, you were kind of like getting water that was contaminated with lead. Now know, that was something that that happened. A big thing that sort of started the decline of water water and sort of the bottled water contingent, the bottle of water marketing ploys that basically water and said, but interestingly, the same process to to clean the bottled water, or the for bottled water. It wasn't any cleaner tests had been done.

Alex:

Wow. Do you know in terms of the mechanism to make the water go up? You remember the button

Kelly:

Yes, yes. There were different kinds. There was a button that would be really hard to push. there were some where you stood on a little pedal? Yeah,

Alex:

yeah. But the problem with the foot pedal again with the bullies, is as you were leaning and step on it and give you the water before you're ready and you get a dose of water in the I would witness this stuff.

Kelly:

You heard you heard stories.

Alex:

Water fountains were just a magnet for bullies though all kinds of mayhem could happen at

Kelly:

I mean, you know, you know, they talk about gossiping around the watercooler. It was gossiping water fountain. Yeah. So So Whoo. You know, speaking of bullying, very unfortunately, water Civil Rights Movement. And before the civil rights movement that basically segregation was that was a white people back in the day, didn't want non white people drinking from their fountains, so only. And that was a you know, I kind of think about that when you think about segregation. You been sprayed on on people that are marching. And you think about those fountains that say whites

Alex:

Yeah. And it was only like 50 or 60 years ago, too. That's,

Kelly:

yeah, yeah. Yeah. 1964 is kind of when the Civil Rights Act abolished that in law, but you wanted to talk to you a little bit more too about the term bubbler. Now have you ever heard them term in the south, like like the southeast, you know, Louisiana, Mississippi, but also up in like drinking fountain, a bubbler. You know, in some places people call a soda soda. Some people call know, this was kind of one of those things. But in Portland, Oregon, there was actually a guy named around in 1912, around Portland, and they were called the Benson bubblers.

Alex:

Oh, yeah, I remember you saying that earlier. And they still exist. The Benson

Kelly:

So so if you go to Portland, Oregon, they are not just they're actually in sets of four. So know, 10 inches, 12 inches in diameter. And each of those has a little drinking fountain. So it's together, coming up from one pipe in the center and one drain in the center.

Alex:

And people call them Benson. bubblers Yeah,

Kelly:

yeah. Because of Benson. They're kind of one of those things kind of like in Austin, you kind of like those Moon towers. Except for the Portland for the Portland area.

Alex:

Well, if you're from Portland and you're listening to this, send us a picture of a Benson

Kelly:

Now, of course, other couple of things you know, cold climates can be challenging for water comes down to sanitation. People people don't feel like they are sanitary. They don't like the idea else's mouth has been. But you know, I kind of embraced the water fountain. I have those fond from a water hose? Like after you'd been playing outside or Sure? Yeah, yeah. And you remember you it down. And then you'd have your friend drinking out of it. You'd uncut and it would spray in

Alex:

Again with the bullying. All right, well, that's

Kelly:

it. 20 minutes in. That's water fountains everybody hope you enjoyed it.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Alex Milam

Host
Head Shot

Kelly Shores

Host