A Fountain Outside Mary McDowell Settlement House
There were few opportunities a century ago for travelers on the streets of Chicago to obtain fresh drinking water. In 1877 the Illinois Humane Society began erecting public drinking fountains. They commissioned a design "both pleasing and practical" by which water would flow at three levels, first accommodating thirsty people at the top, then horses and finally dogs and small animals near the ground level. The cost was $70 per fountain and $60 for a hookup to the city water pipes, including the services of a plumber and stonemason.
The fountain in the photograph, which is undated, was outside the Mary McDowell Settlement House at 4630 S. McDowell Street, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Sixty-seven such fountains were maintained throughout the city at tone time. One is still in use at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Michigan Avenue, opposite the Water Tower and a second fountain is on display in the Museum of Science and Industry.
Read more about this topic: Illinois Humane Society
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“[The Settlement House] must be grounded in a philosophy whose foundation is on the solidarity of the human race, a philosophy which will not waver when the race happens to be represented by a drunken woman or an idiot boy.”
—Jane Addams (1860–1935)
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