Category:Temperance Fountain (Tompkins Square Park)

English: The Temperence Fountain in Tompkins Square Park dates from around 1888 and was donated by Henry D. Cogswell and the Moderation Society. Cosgwell was a dentist and real-estate developer who made a fortune in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and retired in 1856 with $2 million, became involved with the temperance movement, and endowed 50 monuments across the United States between 1878 and the 1890s, many of them temperance fountains. The Moderation Society was founded in 1877 with the aim of improving health conditions on the Lower East Side and to discourage drinking alcohol. The Temperance Fountain they jointly donated to the city is a square granite kiosk with four supporting columns over a drinking fountain, with the four sides labelled "Faith", "Hope", "Charity", and "Temperance". On the top is a figure of Hebe, the water carrier, based on a c.1816 marble statue by Danish sculptor Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen. It was originally cast in zinc but was replaced with more durable bronze in 1992. (Sources: [1],[2] from the NYC Parks Dept. website)