Why Milwaukee has bubblers instead of water fountains

Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated ·1 min read

If you’re not from Wisconsin, there are a few ways to give yourself away. First: Order a bourbon Old Fashioned instead of brandy sweet. Second: Wear a Cardinals hat. Third: Ask for directions to the nearest water fountain.

Inexplicably, public water fountains here are called bubblers and pretty much only here. There are some in Rhode Island, for some reason, but the vast, vast majority of the nation adopted “drinking fountains” and “water fountains.”

Milwaukee appears to be ground zero for the use of bubbler, according to UW-Madison’s Dictionary of American Regional English. Its origins are fuzzy but may be tied to its use by Kohler Co., one of Wisconsin’s most famous brands – a manufacturer of faucets among other water-related products.

16. While the majority of the nation adopted “drinking fountains” and “water fountains", Milwaukee appears to be ground zero for the use of bubbler
16. While the majority of the nation adopted “drinking fountains” and “water fountains", Milwaukee appears to be ground zero for the use of bubbler

The company in 1914 promoted a water fountain created by Kohler as being fitted with a “continuous flow bubbler,” according to the UW-Madison dictionary.

A former dictionary editor in 2015 told Wisconsin Public Radio that “bubbler” was used especially in the southeastern area of the state starting in the mid 1910s. More than a century later, we’re still using bubblers.

See the rest of Milwaukee's 100 objects

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Milwaukee has bubblers instead of water fountains