Recently I was asked if I knew anything about Santa Rosa's Women's Christian Temperance Union.  My response was not a lot, but that I'd see what I could find out. We're lucky to have a copy of Petaluma's WCTU chapter minutes from 1911 to 1921 at the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library, but no such records for the Santa Rosa Chapter exist within our collection.

By using various newspaper databases I was able to locate quite a bit of information about Santa Rosa's WCTU including the fact that they commissioned Kinslow Brothers to construct a granite fountain at the corner of Fourth and B Streets. The dedication took place on August 24, 1901, at which time the fountain was, according to a Press Democrat article, "received into the keeping of the City of Roses by its chief executive, Mayor James S. Sweet, who made a brief and very appropriate speech of acceptance."

The California Historical Society has a photo of the fountain taken after the 1906 earthquake. Note the caption presumably supplied by the photographer, James O. Rue: "The only thing on Fourth St. that remains intact."

The question now is where did the fountain go? Inquiring minds would like to know.