New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1927-07-30
SOAP MAKERS BOW
TO ADAM THOMPSON
He Owned First Bathtub Used in
United States

10 the ordinary person. plum
Der is merely a plumber, a trades
man in back of whose craft there
is no history worthy of chronicling
but Plumbing Inspector Olaf A.
Peterson has delved into it's past
and has found an interesting back
ground to the industry that now
does business of one hundred mil
lion dollars year.
Peterson is the supervisor of all
work done by his fellow tradesmen.
a position he won after nearly 80
years as a plumber. and many years
of outstanding service as an advo-
cate of modernized work and up-to-
date plumbing laws. From his study
OF plumbing history he has taken
the following interesting account OF
the evolution Of the bathtub.
The bathtub was first used III
America December 90. 1872. in the
city of Cincinnati, Ohio, by one
Adam Thompson Thompson had
been to Europe where he met Lord
John Russell. who. a dozen years
before. had invented q bathtub. The
English We're as slow in taking to
the tub as the knights of old had
been in taking to the bath. When
Thompson and Russell met, the lat
ter was the only man in England
reputed to be taking bath every
day. Thompson tried the English
tub and then came home to make
improvem ents.
He had a Cincinnati cabinet-mak-
err build tub of mahogany. seven
feet long by four feet wide, and
line it with sheet lead. When fin
ished it weighed nearly ton.
pipe carried water from the back
yard pump to a tank in the attic.
Two pipes reached from the tank
to the tub. One of these carried
cold water; the other coiled down
the chimney. heating water as it
coiled
Thompson was so pleased with the
tub that he took two baths the first
day and then staged a Christmas
party at which his friends were
privileged to use it. Four Drawer
than the rest took advantage of the
chance-and nothing serious hap
pened to them. People came from
far and wide to see the new
tangled contraption." Soon news
papers and agitators struck out
against the practice of using the tub.
Doctors predicted rheumatism, in
flammation of the lungs and numer-
Gus other ailments that only the
doctors could pronounce.
The city of Philadelphia, cradle
of liberty" witnessed an attempt to
put ban on bathing between NO.
vember and March, but it failed.
Virginia took a slap at bathing by
placing a tax Of $50 year on every
tub brought into the state. Inc
neighboring city of Hartford. Provi-
dence and Wilmington, Del. IN
creased the water rates IN MONIES
where there were tubs. Soak EN-
soak 'em in and out of the tub.
seemed to be the motto. Boston
made bathing unlawful excepting
upon medical advice. Bathing pre-
scriptions!
lard Fillmore succeeded to the
presidency upon the death OF Zach
airy Taylor, he ordered a bathtun
installed in the white house ana
it remained in use for 80 years.
In 1860 some of the more progress
siye hotels in New York city ad-
vertsed bathtub.
When Thompson brought ahout
the tub In the house, it made nee
essary system of carrying water
into the house and waste out OF the
house and gradually the system OF
nlumbing as it now is known, was
evolved.
INSPECTOR Peterson Is not willing
to accept responsibility for the au-
thenticity of the foregoing but these
are the plumbing facts that nave
been recorded in history. passed on
by the official for what they are
worth.