The Tenement House Problem (Volume 2); Including the Report of the New York State Tenement House Commission of 1900 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PUBLIC BATHS Since the People's Baths were opened to the public by the New- York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, in August, 1891, the movement for public bathing facilities has spread to many other cities. At the present time there are public baths in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, San Francisco, Pitts- burg, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, Brookline, Mass., Baltimore, Newark, and St Paul. In Worcester, New Haven, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Louisville the question is being investigated and agitated. In Kansas City, Albany, and Troy contracts for the erection of bath buildings have been let. The only public baths considered in this report are those conducted all the year round by municipalities and private organizations without charge, or for a fee not exceeding five cents for each bather. Leaving New York for subsequent consideration, the following is a summary of the progress made in other cities: ? CHICAGO During the year 1901 Chicago will have four public baths in operation. They are owned and maintained by the municipality. The first bath, known as the Carter H. Harrison Bath, was opened in January, 1894. It is situated at 192 Mather Street. The cost of the building is given as 7825, and of the plumbing and heating apparatus as $2511. The number of baths taken has been as fallows: ? 1894, 91,879; 1895 (closed 68 days), 92,798; 1896 (closed 78 days), 90,695; 1897 (closed 70 days), 106,233; 1898 (closed 141 days), 78,746. The cost of maintenance has been as follows: ? 1894, 13469.65; 1895, $8525.73; 1896, $3777.59; 1897, $4434.72; 1898 (including repairs), $5759.35. When this bath was constructed it was thought necessary to provide a swimming pool, "in order to entice the children of the community into the bat...