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Back
where he belongs:
Dr. Henry
Cogswell statue once again graces Rockvilles Central Park
By
JESSICA CIPARELLI Staff Writer
VERNON
Welcome home, Dr. Cogswell, said state Senator Anthony Guglielmo to
the crowd that gathered for the dedication of the Cogswell Fountain in
Rockvilles Central Park on a dreary Saturday afternoon.
The crowd included Mayor Ellen Marmer, state Reps. Claire
Janowski and Joan Lewis, state Senator Tony Guglielmo, town council and
Rockville Downtown Association members, former RDA Executive Director Luise
Craige, current RDA Executive Director Randy Anagnostis, Town Administrator
Larry Shaffer, and local philanthropist Rosetta Pitkat. Pitkat donated $50,000
for the replica of the original Cogswell statue. LeFevre Studios, Inc., of New
York was commissioned to replicate the 1883 statue.
This statue would not have been
possible without the funds to reproduce it, said Steve Marcham, former RDA
president and former mayor. The town is in debt to one person Rosetta
Pitkat.
We have come here to honor a historic figure,
continued Marcham. This is a collaboration of the Rockville Downtown
Association, town of Vernon and state of Connecticut.
The statue itself is also a collaboration the base is
from the town of Vernon, said Marcham, as he introduced Mayor Ellen Marmer to
discuss the towns hand in the project.
This was a great collaboration, said Marmer. Our
public works [department] was at it again, working to restore the base.
A chuckle went up from the crowd when Marmer noted that the
town now has in its possession, a mold for the Cogswell statue, which in the
past, has had the tendency to disappear off its pedestal.
Just in case Mr. Cogswell ends up in the Snip [Snipsic
Lake] again, we can resurrect him, she said.
The fountain project was part of a larger Central Park
project, which is being funded by state and federal funding. State Rep. Claire
Janowski secured a $250,000 state grant, part of which $35,000 was
used for the restoration of the base of the statue, and to plumb the fountain
for running water.
Marmer said the Central Park project will go out to bid as
soon as the federal government allows them to, since federal funds are also
involved.
Setting the stage for the unveiling of
the statue, Vernon resident Anthony Vecchiarelli told the story of the
Cogswell Fountain as the Spirit of the Cogswell.
Dr. Henry Cogswell was a San Francisco dentist and
philanthropist, and a native of Tolland. In 1883, Cogswell erected a fountain
in honor of his cousin, William T. Cogswell, in Rockvilles Central Park.
Dr. Cogswell was an advocate of prohibition and the Temperance Movement, which
pledged that individuals abstain from the use of alcohol.
Alcohol was the indispensable cure, and its abuse was a
problem, said Vecchiarelli. But the solution put forth by
the temperance [pledge, banning alcohol] was so simple, it was doomed to fail.
The temperance pledge was a tool for extremists. Excess is the problem
anything can be overdone even Henrys water.
The Cogswell Fountain was one of 31 fountains commissioned
around the country to provide a source of water, from which residents could
partake freely. Other fountains were built in Brooklyn, New York, San
Francisco and San Jose, California, Washington, D.C., Fall River,
Massachusetts, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The gift was seen as self-promoting egoism, said
Vecchiarelli. Who was this millionaire doctor from San Francisco, sending
this statue of himself honoring his cousin, telling us what to drink?
The Cogswell statue held a glass of water in one hand, a
Temperance Pledge in the other. In many cities, anti-temperance residents
destroyed, toppled or replaced the statues with neutral figurines or vessels.
In Rockville, the statue was stolen twice, then
eventually melted down for scrap metal during World War II.
Two years after the statue was put in place, it
disappeared, only to be found in Snipsic Lake.
I can assure you that my removal was no harmless prank.
If it was water I wanted, it was water I would get, said Vecchiarelli, as
the Spirit.
The statue was recovered from the lake, cleaned and
returned to its pedestal, but disappeared again shortly after. It mysteriously
reappeared during the 1908 Town Centennial Celebration, or Old Home
Week, with a hand-written sign noting, I have come back for Old Home
Week.
Following Old Home Week the statue even took part in
the parade festivities it was brought to the Town Farm and eventually,
melted down for scrap metal.
This [1883] fountain was no innocent gift it was a
political challenge, said Vecchiarelli. In 2005, it is a fountain to
rejuvenate downtown Rockville and thus, rejuvenate downtown America. This new
Henry what does he stand for now? That brown metal
sheet [in his hand] is Rockvilles history Henry stands for Rockville
now.
State Reps. Claire Janowski and Joan Lewis, along with
state Senator Tony Guglielmo, presented Rosetta Pitkat with an official state
citation and presented the philanthropist with a state legislative pin, which
are hard to come by, according to Janowski.
It will not give you complete access [to the Capitol
building] but it will certainly impress the guard, said Janowski, as she
placed the pin on Pitkat.
Malcolm Cogswell, a descendent of the Cogswell family and
editor of the Cogswell family newsletter, arrived from Quebec, Canada to
attend the ceremony. Cogswell said at first, he was a bit apprehensive about
how the town would deal with the meaning of the statue.
Im really glad we came its quite exciting,
he said. I was wondering how they were going to deal with it because it was
a very strong temperance statue. They did very well, he said.
When asked if he could abide by the temperance pledge,
Cogswell said, Maybe I could take it with the exceptions my father and
mother were members of the Temperance Lodge The Sons of Temperance
which meant total abstinence from anything with alcohol in it. They never
went, but they were members.
The exceptions to the Temperance Pledge include, as a
medicine prescribed by a competent physician as a curative, or as a
preventative health measure, or, for religious purposes, or, on Special
Dayssuch as The Fourth of July when we celebrate our independence and the
birth of our great nation.
The dedication ceremony marked the culmination of years of
work by both private and public participants in the planning, design,
restoration, manufacture and installation of the final Cogswell Memorial
Fountain.
It
wont give you complete access, but its impressive all the same! State Rep.
Claire Janowski laughs with Rosetta Pitkat, after Pitkat was presented a state
citation and a sought after legislative pin, which Janowski said are hard
to come by. It will not give you complete access [to the Capitol], but it
will certainly impress the guard, said Janowski, as she pinned the
legislative pin to Pitkats jacket. Pitkat, a Rockville-born philanthropist,
donated $50,000 for the new Cogswell statue in Rockvilles Central Park.
Photo by Jessica Ciparelli.
The
unveiling. Former mayor and former RDA president Steve Marcham and former
Executive Director Luise Craige help unveil the new Cogswell Fountain. Photos by
Jessica Ciparelli.
The
plaque. A plaque explaining the Cogswell history and Pitkats donation is
located across from the statue.
A
lot of effort put forth. Steve Marcham, Town Administrator Larry Shaffer, former
RDA Executive Director Luise Craige, Rosetta Pitkat, and Mayor Ellen Marmer
brave the elements to pose next to the new Cogswell Fountain following its
unveiling.