Location: Nantucket, MA, USA
The drinking fountain located at Max Wagner Square was anonymously donated to the town in 1885 and installed at the top of Main Street. In 1893 at the same time as the street lighting was installed it was relocated to bottom of the Main Street in Town Square and disconnected from the water main. The cobblestones which pave the street were brought to the island as ballast in ships.
The square and the drinking fountain were dedicated in 1932 to the memory of Lieutenant Max Wagner, who lost his life in the Spanish-American War. Born in 1866 in Charleston, South Carolina he moved to Nantucket and married Jennie Macy, a descendant of the very first of the English founding families on Nantucket. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Wagner already a U. S. Army veteran re-enlisted, serving first in Puerto Rico and then in the Philippines where he was killed in 1900.
A sign mounted on the lamp pillar identifies Lieut. Max Wagner Sq. U.S.W.V.
The drinking fountain is unique in that it has not been removed, as so many others around the country were, to improve flow of traffic. Vehicles on Main Street are directed around the structure which the Nantucket Garden Club maintains with seasonal flowers and greens.
The drinking fountain/horse trough is identified as design #3 for man and beast in Henry F. Jenks’ foundry catalog. The 24 feet high structure manufactured in cast iron consists of a solid base with an annular channel for use as a dog trough.
A pedestal with attic base hosts arched panels for dedication or bas-relief enrichment. A movable panel in one side offered access to plumbing. A circular horse trough standing 4 feet 3 inches above ground level was a comfortable height for horses to drink and had the capacity to hold a barrel of water (42 gallons).
The centre of the basin contains a jamb from which dolphin mascarons spouted water and drinking cups were attached. Waste water was directed to the dog trough at street level. This design prevented contagious distemper.
The fountain was provided with self closing faucets and the pipes within were constructed to resist freezing in cold temperatures. Fountains were supplied both with and without an ice box attachment as desired. An ice box was placed near the sidewalk underground, which was provided with coils of tin lined pipe on which ice was placed to cool the water flowing through the coils to the outlet of the fountain.
The fluted lamp pillar originally terminating in a gas lantern now hosts an electric bulb.
Glossary:
- Annular; circular, ring shaped
- Attic base, a column base with two rings
- Bas-relief, sculpted material that has been raised from the background to create a slight projection from the surface
- Fluted Shaft, a long rounded groove decorating the shaft of a column
- Jamb, a projecting vertical post containing sculpture
- Mascaron, a decorative element in the form of a sculpted face or head of a human being or an animal
- Pedestal, an architectural support for a column or statue
Memorial Drinking Fountains 