Cogswell, Henry D. (Henry Daniel), 1820-1900.

Cogswell was a San Francisco dentist and philanthropist.

From the description of Henry D. Cogswell time capsule collection, 1847-1975 (bulk 1855-1879). (California Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 122394780

Dentist, businessman, temperance advocate, philanthropist; born in Tollandville, Connecticut; arrived in San Francisco in 1849, founded Cogswell Polytechnical College in San Francisco in 1877; presented numerous drinking fountains and monuments to various cities and towns in the U.S., including San Francisco, and Boston.

From the description of Henry D. Cogswell papers, 1846-1960 (bulk 1850-1899) (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 36169843

Biographical Information

California pioneer, Henry D. Cogswell was a dentist by profession, an inventor, a real estate manipulator and investor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, temperance advocate, and founder of Cogswell Polytechnic College (1887), the first engineering institute west of St. Louis. Dr. Cogswell donated several statues of himself, as well as numerous fountains, to the city of San Francisco.

From the guide to the Henry D. Cogswell papers, 1846-1960, 1850-1899, (The Bancroft Library.)

Biography of Henry Daniel Cogswell

Dr. Henry Daniel Cogswell, dentist and temperance advocate, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, on March 3, 1820. While working in a series of New England cotton mills in his youth, he pursued his studies at night, and eventually became a teacher; after one year, Cogswell began studying dentistry. He completed his dental training in the early 1840s and, after earlier attempts in Providence and South Coventry, he eventually set up a practice in Pawtucket in 1847. In 1846, Cogswell married Caroline E. Richards, daughter of Ruel Richards, a manufacturer in Providence.

In response to the news of the discovery of gold in California, Cogswell joined the gold rush and sailed from Philadelphia to San Francisco aboard the Susan G. Owens, arriving on October 12, 1849. After early success selling supplies and practicing dentistry in the gold fields in a tent in Stockton, California, Cogswell returned to San Francisco, where he opened offices at 209 Washington Street. His accomplishments in the dental profession include credit for both the design of the vacuum method of securing dental plates, and performing the first dental operation using chloroform in California in 1853.

During this period, Cogswell also pursued business opportunities; his success in his profession and his investments in real estate and mining stocks soon made him a fortune estimated at over 2 million dollars. His wealth led him to endow a number of philanthropic projects. In the 1870s, Cogswell donated both land and a building for the founding of a Cogswell Dental College, and conveyed it in trust to the Regents of the University of California. However, the college was never realized, possibly due to the demands Cogswell made. (See Box 1 for legal documents and other papers relating to the establishment of the dental college.) In March 19, 1887, Dr. and Mrs. Cogswell executed a trust deed setting apart real property (valued at approximately 1 million dollars) to establish and endow Cogswell Polytechnical College. The school was opened in August 1888 as a high school with departments of technical education for boys and business education for girls.

Cogswell was an avid supporter of temperance and the temperance movement, and devoted much of his wealth to promote the cause by donating approximately fifty monuments to cities across the United States, most with drinking fountains, from the 1870s through the 1890s. Cogswell's hope was to construct one drinking fountain for every 100 saloons. The monuments, built at Cogswell's expense and often designed by him as well, were donated to the cities of Washington, D.C., New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston, and San Francisco, among others. Many cities, however, were not pleased with the monuments Cogswell wished to donate; often topped by a figure that greatly resembled Cogswell himself, the sculptures were rejected by some cities on the grounds that they were self-promoting. Others were accepted, but later destroyed or dismantled. San Francisco's own statue of Cogswell, which originally stood on the corner of California, Market, and Drumm Streets, was toppled by a group of writers and artists in 1894. Surviving examples of the fountains can still be found in Washington, D.C., New York, and other cities.

Included among the monuments donated by Cogswell to the city of San Francisco is the statue of Benjamin Franklin, which originally stood at the corner of Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and now stands in Washington Square. The time capsule Cogswell created was entombed in the base of the statue, and dedicated "For our boys and girls who will soon take our place and pass on," with the added inscription, "P O Box with Mementos for the Historical Society in 1979 from H.D.C."

Cogswell's original intent with the creation of the time capsule is expressed in one of his many letters to the Board of Supervisors, included within the contents of the capsule along with designs for the fountain:

"To erect a plain polished Granit (sic) or Marble Fountain, to be of a historical Character, dedicated 'To our Boys' who will soon succeed us, go on and give place to others. (see plan and specification) herewith submitted. On the top to be cut a recess for a copper box to receive the names of the present Officers of City, County & State Government; also of the constitutional Convention now in session, Copies of all daily and weekly City-papers, City Directory etc. Names of School Directors, teachers and Officers of the Fire Department, Societies of California Pioneers, all its members, Police Department also Reports of Mechanics Institute. The various benevolent Societies also an autograph letter with the photograph of the writer to be read before an antiquarian Society also the List of all churches and their officers including any other interesting matter until the box is full, of such as may be intended for persons to read 100 years from date, to be the property of any Historical or antiquarian Society Existing at that time and to form an indisputable connecting Link between the people of San Francisco of the day 1878 and 1978 that they may see that there was a live people existing here at this date and tolerably well civilized."

Cogswell died on July 8, 1900, and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery, in Oakland, California.

Sources consulted for this biography include:

"The Intemperate Patronage of Henry D. Cogswell," by Frederick C. Moffatt. Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 27, no. 2/3 (Summer-Autumn, 1992), pp. 123-143;

Henry D. Cogswell Biographical Research Notes, MS 690, California Historical Society.

From the guide to the Henry D. Cogswell time capsule collection, 1847-1879, 1979 (bulk 1855-1879), (California Historical Society)