Bathrooms, bath rooms and water closets

Ok I admit it; I’ve been going through old newspapers again. My husband might be right, it could be an addiction, but then again, I don’t know any re-hab program for it so I guess we will both have to live with it!

So several of you got a kick out of football being Foot Ball and now I’ve found a new one, Bath Rooms. Here’s a couple of examples from early days and then some other bits of information that I just couldn’t pass up!

McCook Tribune, January 13, 1899: “The bath rooms just completed by William Zint under his barber shop in the Citizens Bank Building (I believe that would be where the west Norris & B garden is located now) are as fine as any of them. He has put in three elegant tubs with boiler, reservoir and all the equipments for a first-class bathing establishment and justly feels proud of the job. The large room under his shop has been fitted up in fine shape for the purpose. Three rooms have been subdivided off, besides a large and convenient boiler room and hall-way. It is one of the neatest and completest bath rooms ever provided in the city. A stair-way has been provided leading from the barber shop upstairs.”

“For Sale or Rent: Seven room house, corner of Madison and Monroe streets, with bath room and water closet (toilet for those who don’t know that terminology). Steel range will be left in the house. Good cellar and large barn. Fruit trees and lawn. As desirable place as there is in the city. Inquire of Frank Carruth. “The McCook Tribune, November 9, 1894

Here are a few that just caught my attention due to the content: “On Saturday evening, Messrs. Potter and Jewett of the Punch and Judy restaurant or lunch room turned over the key of their joint to O. M. Knipple, and vamoosed the city, leaving various and sundry creditors in the soup in small amounts. The chief capital stock of these fellows was cheek, and they were not entitled to credit from any man doing business on business principles; so those who contributed to their limited and unworthy existence in our city, which is already overstocked with restaurants, are not receiving much sympathy for their losses.” McCook Tribune, August 30, 1895.

From Wm. Valentine, Superintendent of Schools in the same paper: “All pupils who did not procure certificates of vaccination from a physician or from the superintendent’s office are requested to do so before the opening of school.” (I was unaware of this practice as early as 1894, or even what could be vaccinated against!)

Finally, this little piece from the November 9, 1894 McCook Tribune which once again proves that politics are politics: “Last week, every Dane and Norwegian in the vicinity of Quick post office, in Frontier County, received a paper printed in Swede. There was no name or heading on the sheet, and no date or ought else to signify its origin. But the sheet contained two of Rosewater’s speeches and a few small items of political sort. But the joke of the whole matter is that there is only one Swede in the whole neighborhood who could read the paper, and its contents were a blank to the Danes and Norwegians who, almost without exception, are unable to read Swedish print.”

Time is ticking away for the Cemetery Heritage Tour planned for Sunday, Sept. 24 from 2-4 p..m. Make plans to attend this great event which has been put together by not only Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society, but also the McCook Chamber of Commerce, and the McCook Senior High Thespians with costume help and advice from the SW Nebraska Theatrical Association. There’s a bit of mystery in everyone’s family and you should prepare to be entertained by the actors at each gravesite. The program is free though a free-will donation would be appreciated.