Fountains

The earliest “fountain” was a small, boxlike apparatus for generating carbonated water with a tube to draw the water. The fountain sat on the counter and was connected by tubes to the carbonating apparatus, which was set under the counter or in the cellar. The apparatus was surrounded by ice so that the water would be cold. There was a spigot on the fountain, shaped like a gooseneck in the early years, to draw the water into a bottle. The water was then poured into a glass with or without a flavoring syrup. These early fountains evolved into much more elaborate ones made of marble with mythological figures and a hundred syrups, and the later fountains could cost from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.