Benjamin Franklin, Bronze monument in Washington Square, San Francisco, United States.

Benjamin Franklin is a bronze sculpture in Washington Square, San Francisco, set on an ornate granite pedestal inscribed on all four sides. The statue stands amid trees and open lawn at the center of the park.

Created by temperance campaigner Henry D. Cogswell as a drinking fountain, the monument was installed at Kearny and Market Streets in 1879. It was moved to Washington Square in 1904; the sources do not attribute the move to Cogswell. In 1979, a century after its creation, a time capsule hidden in the base was removed and opened.

The bronze figure stands at the center of Washington Square and draws both visitors and locals toward it. The open space around the base is used daily by people walking through, sitting nearby, or simply pausing to look.

The sculpture sits at the center of Washington Square and is easy to reach on foot from the North Beach neighborhood. Daytime visits give the best view of the bronze figure and the details on the granite base.

The time capsule opened in 1979, a century after the monument's creation, held Henry D. Cogswell's personal papers. A replacement capsule was sealed in the base and is set to be opened in 2079. The statue also appears behind Richard Brautigan on the cover of his 1967 novel Trout Fishing in America.