Excuse Me, I Need to Powder My Nose

Joined
Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
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Have you ever wondered when public restrooms became commonplace? Well, me neither. That is until the shelter in place order came along with Covid-19. Now I wonder about all kinds of things. I especially wonder when restaurants (I'm admittedly obsessed with dining out right now.) tried to specifically accommodate women with separate toilets. I still can’t really find that answer.

Researching the history of restrooms in restaurants has proven to be challenging. Historical sources indicate restaurants that had facilities for women usually outfitted them with more than toilets and sinks. They provided a space where ladies could touch-up their hair and simply rest.

According to Suellen Hoy’s book entitled, "Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness", most public toilets were outdoors, behind saloons and restaurants, prior to the 1860s. Flush toilets were quite rare in the United States until the 1880s.

It seems hotel restaurants were the first to provide a ladies’ restroom even though hotel bedrooms with private bathrooms were quite rare. According to a story in 1864, a Chicago restaurant welcomed women diners and invited them to simply “call in for a rest, without intrusion, or being thought an intruder.” The article went on to say, “Every provision has been made for the convenience of ladies and a toilet-room specially apportioned to their use.” This must have been welcome news to women in the mid-19th​ century because public facilities for ladies were in short supply.

The number of ladies’ restrooms in restaurants grew in the 1880s with the spread of indoor plumbing and city sewers. According to a story from 1889, restrooms in fashionable restaurants were “sumptuously furnished” with velvet couches, floor to ceiling mirrors, and marble basins. Perfumes, face powders, rouges, lotions, ivory brushes and combs, as well as hat pins were supplied.

You can still find some of these niceties offered in ladies’ restrooms in expensive restaurants, hotels and department stores. I can honestly say I have never been tempted to try out a chaise lounge or perfume in any of these facilities.


Source: Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness by Suellen Hoy. Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (October 10, 1996).
 
Just curious about the history of restrooms for men in the 1800's and I've always been curious about rest areas as people were traveling. I have a friend that lives in an old home that is called the "stagecoach" house and it was a place for people to stop in their travels, although I'm not sure how "advanced" their bathrooms were.
 
I'm just never certain what is the correct tip for the poor bathroom attendant? You don't see them much anymore but when one is around I always so awful for them, stuck in there for a living, you just want to hand them your wallet.

Try using " water closet " in a search? LoC newspapers, if you don't have newspapers dot com? You know Victorians. Heck, even when I grew up it was ' The Powder Room ' or ' Lady's Room '.

I can't find one attached to a restaurant, they had water closets in hotels around 1850? A lot of hotels ( like Willards ) had restaurants in them too, guessing maybe if there were water closets on each floor for guests, they'd have taken care of customers? And really, think of their staff!

water closet hotel 1860.JPG

This was 1850! "..... water closet on every floor".

water closet in hotel 1860.JPG

From some court case involving The Clarendon? 1860, for some reason describing the location of the ladies' water closet.

OK, off topic but please would someone tell me what this is all about?
water closet paper 1859.JPG

What exactly are they saying, are they selling their newspaper's ad space OR selling their newspaper for a dual purpose? REALLY confused. Medicated newspapers? Goodness.
 
Just curious about the history of restrooms for men in the 1800's and I've always been curious about rest areas as people were traveling. I have a friend that lives in an old home that is called the "stagecoach" house and it was a place for people to stop in their travels, although I'm not sure how "advanced" their bathrooms were.
They would have had “outhouses” in the back yard before indoor plumbing was common. Outhouses were still around when I grew up in rural southeastern NC in the 1950’s. I have friend whose parents live near Gettysburg, Pa and they still use an outhouse even though their children have installed indoor plumbing for them.
 
What exactly are they saying, are they selling their newspaper's ad space OR selling their newspaper for a dual purpose? REALLY confused. Medicated newspapers? Goodness.

@lupaglupa did a thread on this Annie. Check it out.

 
@lupaglupa did a thread on this Annie. Check it out.

Sears and Roebuck’s catalogue had a dual purpose. I heard my dad say that on numerous occasions. I was fortunate enough to have indoor plumbing all of my life. I would assume the aloe was the medicated portion referred to in the ad. As a young boy in the fifties, I would help delivery groceries. It was not uncommon to take groceries into homes where you could see daylight in the walls and floors. It was not uncommon for these homes to have outhouses. I live in a county that is 40 percent Native American, 30 percent white, 25 percent African American and most of the rest Hispanic. The Lumbee tribe is the largest tribe east of the Mississippi. In the 1860 census, there were just under 10,000 whites, just under 5,000 slaves and roughly 1,500 free persons of color. There are now 135,000 people in the county.
 
I'm just never certain what is the correct tip for the poor bathroom attendant? You don't see them much anymore but when one is around I always so awful for them, stuck in there for a living, you just want to hand them your wallet.


I would never have thought to tip an attendant.

Only attendant I have seen are ones at highway rest stops. They are probably on state retirement plans. The ones I have seen also do not appear to be overworked at all. Just saying.
 
I'm just never certain what is the correct tip for the poor bathroom attendant? You don't see them much anymore but when one is around I always so awful for them, stuck in there for a living, you just want to hand them your wallet.

I can't recall the last time I was in a restroom that had a bathroom attendant. That job seems to be an occupation that goes in the same category as "elevator operator."
 
They would have had “outhouses” in the back yard before indoor plumbing was common. Outhouses were still around when I grew up in rural southeastern NC in the 1950’s. I have friend whose parents live near Gettysburg, Pa and they still use an outhouse even though their children have installed indoor plumbing for them.
I have a neighbor who still has an outhouse. :S
 
Grandma never had indoor plumbing. Didn't trust it. Although she INSISTED that grandpa set up an AC Delco Generator for eletric lights and such. This was around 1920 or later. Outhouse ? Yes. Indoor water ? Yes, pump at kitchen sink, in front yard and another by the corral, but also had water well. Big cistern by the house. Double Bayou water wasn't drinkable.
After grandpa died dad built a house for her. Yep, OUTHOUSE, cistern and sink. This was in 1957. Grandma had a run in with a chicken snake and that outhouse once and dropped her glasses and dentures "you know where". She was not a happy camper
 
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