- Joined
- Nov 26, 2016
- Location
- central NC
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).