The 1910s was a period of great growth in the infrastructure of communities in the United States. Public policy initiatives such as the Good Roads Movement and See America First campaign increased automobile traffic in parts of the country by improving routes of travel, which stimulated communities’ interest in attracting visitors. Knowledge of diseases and how they spread also sparked a hygiene movement that sought to improve living conditions in both rural and urban areas.
Typhoid, a bacterial infection, became an adversary to be vanquished. In Kansas, Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine, a Dodge City resident, had been appointed to the State Board of Health to put safeguards in place for the state. This included outlawing the public drinking cup – Kansas was the first state to do this in 1909 – and a war on flies. Crumbine released a bulletin called “Swat the Fly” in 1905, which detailed how to destroy the insects and why they could be dangerous. Posters on flies were distributed in every post office, city hall, public building and railroad station within the state.
The war was not only on paper, however, as swatting flies would only accomplish so much. Measures needed to be taken to contain waste and sewage that contributed to the multiplication of the flies and spread of disease. According to a 1916 publication by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, thousands of farms across the country had no privy to contain waste. This same publication suggested various kinds of privies that could be constructed.
The pit privy was a simple solution as it could be portable. Pits were shallow, not over 3 feet in depth, and the structure could be moved (a two-person job) when the pit became one-half to two-thirds full. An important feature for pit privies was banking on its sides to allow for rainwater drainage and prevention of flies.
Sanitary privies were constructed to be watertight and to prevent any spread of disease above or below ground. Their receptacle could be an iron pail or bucket or even trash can that could be removed One version of a sanitary privy was called a “chemical closet” that contained a disinfectant and was used in country schools, rail stations, and some farms that could afford the extra cost.
Another type was called a dry earth privy. This structure was four-foot square with tight boarding to prevent flies. Like the other privies, an iron garbage can could be used as a receptacle.
During the Great Depression the U.S. government, as part of one of its social programs, built 2.3 million outhouses in rural America. This sanitary toilet program sought to combat hookworm, typhoid, diarrhea, and dysentery. Eleanor Roosevelt took up the cause, and in turn, one of the nicknames given to outhouses in this period was “The Eleanor.”
Eleanors were constructed with a four-foot square cement slab and a metal roof. To meet the need during the struggling economy, the structure was constructed out of any available lumber. Eleanors measured seven feet tall in the front, with a one-foot slant toward the back. Typically, the Eleanor outhouses were ventilated with four vents, two under the roof (which could be closed), and two more three feet from the base – one vent in back, and one on the side. Eleanors were mostly “one seat” buildings, and had a hook to hang your coat and a place for toilet paper.
Privies, while beneficial to containing waste, were problematic because they stunk and they needed more care than people were willing to give. Even in 1917, there was a realization that the best method was to flush away waste through a sewer system to undergo treatment, but in rural areas that in itself was a problem to implement.
In 1909, Osage City was the first community in Osage County to pass a water bond, though for many years running water remained inaccessible to rural areas, where swatting flies and building tight outhouses remained as common health measures.
Hidden History of Osage County collage: Privy plans from a 1916 article by George Warren for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Sewage Disposal on the Farm”; public domain newspaper photo of Samuel Crumbine; photo of outhouse formerly a part of Sharon School in northwest Osage County.
Wendi Bevitt is owner of Buried Past Consulting LLC. She lived in Osage County for 20 years and her research interests include Osage County Civil War veterans and Osage County history.
