This is Something I Pass by at Least Once a Week

And think to myself, "What even is this?" "Why is it filled with concrete?" "Is that a ... spigot?" So this week I continued my walk down Nassau Street but also sent some e-mails to those in the know.According to University Architect Emeritus Jon Hlafter and Associate University Architect Natalie Shivers:

The National Register for Historic Places nomination for King’s Highway notes a stone horse trough with pedestrian water fountain on the south side of Nassau St. between Washington Rd. and University Pl. that used to be located at the head of Witherspoon Street in 1894 and was moved to its current location in 1904 to make way for the FitzRandolph Gateway.

In colonial times Nassau Street was known as King’s Highway, the main stage coach route between New York and Philadelphia -- and apparently the horses got thirsty somewhere around present-day Panera Bread.But why is the trough filled with concrete today?

Our friends at the Historical Society of Princeton (located across the street from the trough) explain:

People just didn't get it, they kept throwing their trash in there -- and there's a lot of traffic and trash on Nassau -- so we simply filled it in. Problem solved.