History of Bathtubs

The Roman Empire are known as the early champions of bathing. Around 500 BC Roman citizens were encouraged to bathe daily in one of the many public baths. Private bathing rooms were far more ornate and typically would resemble shallow swimming pools that encompassed the entire room. The Romans used marble for the tubs, lead and bronze for pipes, and created a complex sewage system for sanitation purposes.

The Roman empire set the early bar for personal hygiene as we know it today. Contrary to popular belief, bathing and sanitation were not a lost practice with the collapse of the Roman Empire. As a matter of fact, soap making first became an established trade during the Early Middle Ages. Also, contrary to myth, chamberpots were not disposed of out the window and into streets in the Middle Ages -- this was instead a Roman practice. Bathing in fact did not fall out of fashion until shortly after the Renaissance, replaced instead with the heavy use of sweat-bathing and perfume, as it was thought that water could carry disease into the body through the skin.

Modern sanitation as we know it was not widely adapted until the 19th and 20th centuries. The bath tub’s modern spouse, the toilet, had problems gaining acceptance. Sir John Harrington invented the first flushing toilets for himself and for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. When Harrington published a book describing his invention, he was roundly chided by peers, embarrassing him to the point of retirement from plumbing.

His two toilets were the only ones he ever produced. The next water closet would not be seen for 200 years when it was introduced by Alexander Cummings in 1775. This event would mark the very beginnings of the modern bathroom. It was now time for the piping to catch up with the fixtures. Until the 19th century, most water pipes in the US were made from hollow trees.

 In the early 1800s, cast-iron production began reducing American reliance on England for this material. Finally, in 1848, The National Public Health Act was passed in the US, creating a plumbing code for the first time. In 1883, Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and Kohler Company began producing cast-iron bathtubs. Far from the ornate feet and luxury most associated with clawfoot tubs, an early Kohler example was advertised as a "horse trough/hog scolder, when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub." It is almost humorous to note that the item's use as hog scolder was considered a more important marketing point than its ability to function as a bathtub. Everyone knew what a hog scolder or horse trough was, but many people at that time had never bathed in a tub. In truth, these tubs caught on because of the sanitary and easy-to-clean surfaces that prevent the spread of disease then from any purchaser's desire to smell nice for his neighbors. A few years later, Thomas Twyford created the first valve less toilet constructed from china. Before this time, toilets were normally made from metal and wood.

Thomas Crapper would gain infamy as the inventor of the modern toilet when he bought the rights to a patent for a "Silent Valve less Water Waste Preventer", but he did not invent the toilet. The bathing world was rocked by controversy when a completely inaccurate account of bathing and bathtub history was published by H.L. Mencken in 1917. What began as a light attempt at humor ended up being adopted as the truth by the public and even reputable publications. While perhaps good reading, Mencken's account of laws prohibiting bathing, and much more, is not true. The end of World War I resulted in a housing construction boom in the United States and a new conception of the purpose-built modern bathroom.

Bathrooms prior to World War I were typically a converted bedrooms or spare rooms, not rooms built originally to contain bathroom fixtures. Complete with toilet, sink, and tub, the modern bathroom was a feature of 100% of new homes by the end of the 20th century, whereas only 1% of homes had had bathrooms in 1921.In the latter half of the 20th century, the once popular clawfoot bathtub morphed into a built-in tub with a small apron front. This enclosed style afforded easier maintenance and, with the emergence of colored sanitary ware, more design options for the homeowner. The Crane Company introduced colored bathroom fixtures to the US market in 1928, and slowly this influx of design options and easier cleaning and care led to the near demise of clawfoot style bathtubs.