By about 1900, some city streets featured drinking fountains for thousands of working horses, courtesy of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
They were also treated to free cold curbside showers, as seen in the 1911 Library of Congress photo above.
And in the strange but true category, the SPCA had a plan to give away free straw sombreros to shield working horses’ eyes from the sun:
“The hats will be specially prepared by a horse outfitter in Union Square, following a pattern designed by [SPCA superintendent] Hankinson,” wrote the New York Times in June 1902.
“The hat, known as the horse sombrero, will be made of coarsely woven straw, about sixteen inches in diameter. The hat has an extraordinary flat brim, and, with the exception of the large holes for the horse’s ears, has the appearance of an ordinary hat.”
The SPCA got the idea from the street horses in Paris, all of whom wore sombreros in the summer, the Times goes on to say. Photo above sent in by an Ephemeral reader.
Tags: ASPCA, city horses, horse drinking fountains, horse hat, horse showers, horse sombrero, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, working horses
Ephemeral New York 
June 28, 2010 at 3:52 am |
[…] By about 1900, the city had set up drinking fountains for its thousands of working horses. They were also treated to free cold curbside showers, courtesy of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And in the strange but true category, the SPCA also gave away free straw sombreros to shield working horses' eyes from the sun: "The hats will be specially prepared by a horse outfitter in Union Square, following a pattern designed b … Read More […]
June 28, 2010 at 10:07 am |
There used to be a concrete bucket (about bathtub size) for horses on 1st Ave & 14th Street, next to the church, though I had never seen any horses there, but it was filled with trash and empty beer cans by the time I saw it in the 50s-60s.
June 28, 2010 at 11:26 am |
found a couple image of horses-in-hats:
and
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/90003048/Hulton-Archive
June 28, 2010 at 12:41 pm |
Fantastic photos, thanks! I’m going to put the first one in the post, it’s a gem.
June 28, 2010 at 5:29 pm |
[…] the heat, even with air conditioning. But how did the work-horses of the nineteenth century stay cool? [Ephemeral […]
October 25, 2010 at 1:08 am |
It’s quite fascinating to see the changes in which the horses have been treated over the years. Now horses in NYC endure cruel conditions. When they are not working nine hours a day they are forced to sleep in small confined stalls. Horses in New York City are not granted pastures, or time to socialize with other horse. Many people aren’t aware that it is illegal for a horse driver to keep the house working when the temperature is 90 degrees or more or 18 degrees or below. Three carriage horses died from a heat wave in 1988, when this happened a law was approved that prohibited horses from working in such harsh conditions. However in 1994 working hours were increased for horses which continued the poor treatment of carriage horses. The congested city lifestyle is not a proper atmosphere for horses to be exposed to, especially when they are not being given the adequate conditions.
December 16, 2010 at 5:27 pm |
Edwin Black has a great section on the working horses of NYC in his book Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives. Horses pulling omnibuses in NYC produced upwards of 3.25 million lbs of dung… a day!
Below is a (really long) link to google books, which should bring up a view of that segment, around page 39-40.
http://books.google.com/books?id=S0DDjjjD5gwC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=edwin+black+horses+new+york&source=bl&ots=TCWTtjpbSW&sig=XvGSDht19jh8GiyMNmoM6K3mzeY&hl=en&ei=WkoKTbPsIZCWsgOo5JysCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
June 23, 2012 at 8:05 pm |
[…] showers, but drinking fountains to the thousands of working horses in the city. Not only that, but EphemeralNY recently pointed out the SPCA’s plan in 1902 to give free straw sombreros to the horses to […]
June 23, 2012 at 8:16 pm |
[…] only that, but Ephemeral NY recently pointed out the SPCA’s plan in 1902 to give free straw sombreros to the horses to […]
June 17, 2013 at 4:04 am |
[…] of vestiges from the years when horses powered New York still remain: stables, horse drinking fountains, and the handsome nine-story loft built in 1897 as […]
June 12, 2017 at 5:23 am |
[…] did horses handle hot summer days? With horse showers and special hats, thanks to efforts of the […]
July 17, 2017 at 6:36 am |
[…] they advocated that horses be outfitted with sombreros! Really, this was an actual idea at the turn of the last century, designed to help shield horses […]
September 30, 2018 at 11:59 pm |
[…] Manhattan steeds, however: They also offered free showers on the streets and gave out eye-shading straw hats for horses with specially designed ear […]
April 26, 2021 at 3:01 am |
[…] Mrs. Russell’s fountain—now 113 years old—to this spot beside the park, near a line of waiting horses and their […]