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Sanitary Acculturation: The Social History of Progressive Era Public Bath Houses in Philadelphia
- The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 145, Number 3, October 2021
- pp. 219-265
- 10.1353/pmh.2021.0022
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract :
In 1895, the Public Baths Association of Philadelphia (PBA) was formed for the purpose of "establishing and maintaining public baths and affording the poor facilities for bathing and the promotion of cleanliness." In 1898, the PBA opened America's first public bath house to offer both bathing and laundry facilities. The six public bathhouses erected in Philadelphia exemplify a period of national experimentation that aimed to establish an American standard of bodily cleanliness though architecture, based on the belief that the long-range strategy of urban moral control could be achieved through influencing behavior and modeling character in a consciously planned urban environment.