The Inexhaustible Cow

One of the many attractions at Coney Island in the late 19th century was a tireless mechanical wooden cow which dispensed glasses of milk, served by costumed dairy maids, who unfortunately cannot been seen in this charming late-Victorian stereograph entitled "The Inexhaustible Cow."

The cow stood in a pavilion at Culver Plaza, next to the iron observation tower that had been brought there from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1878. Culver Plaza, on Surf Avenue, was named for developer Andrew R. Culver, whose Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad had its terminus there.

A glass of milk from the mechanical cow cost a nickel a glass, according to Charles Denson in Coney Island: Lost and Found (2002, p. 21). John S. Berman in Coney Island (2003, p. 16) writes that people could "bathe under the udders" of the cow at this time, too, but I am not sure how the cow would have been able to multi-task

Berman attributes the cow's installation at Coney Island to notorious local politician/police chief John Y. McKane, but the Eagle, in 1879, refers to it as "Paul Bauer's cow." Bauer was a prominent Coney Island hotel owner, whose West Brighton Hotel was one of Coney Island's largest and most luxurious accomodations. The West Brighton Casino, also owned by Bauer, was just behind the hotel.

The cow had been at Culver Plaza since at least 1879, in which year it was first mentioned in the Eagle. The Eagle also noted other pleasures at Culver Plaza in the late 1870s: sipping cream and "eating sweetmeats" at Cable's restaurant while listening to a band play, a children's merry-go-round, "magnetic machines,"a Camera Obscura and a patent weighing machine that would tell not only your weight but your age, too.

The amazing stereograph of the Inexhaustible Cow is from New York City Stereos at Antique Photographics. The modern picture of the cow, sans blanket, is from Collector's Quest, from the 2008 American Antiques Show; it was selling for $95,000 (I don't know who, if anyone, bought it, though). The picture of the iron tower is from the German version of Wikipedia. And over here, in Charles Denson's Coney Island: Lost and Found, is a great picture of the cow in its pavilion.

Also see "Coney Island" (Jul. 9, 1879, p. 6) and "Sweltering" (Jul. 14, 1880, p. 4) in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, for mentions of the cow.

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