The mass- produced bath tub did not appear until the 1920's! George Vanderbilt, with his millions was one of the first to have a real luxury bathroom in 1855 and the Newport mansions of 1870-1900 have huge marble tubs like sarcophagi with hot, cold, and salt running water taps. The wash bowl and pitcher was the norm for most, and total immersion baths were rare for the average person, Tin hip baths in front of the fire might be a weekly possibility- usually on Saturday night with the family sharing the bath water! Ben Franklin imported a copper one from France- it was shaped like a shoe and took forever to fill by hand. There was even a certain fear in Victorian times, especially among the poorer classes that stripping down and exposing the body to total immersion might be harmful. Queen Elizabeth I rarely washed- heavy perfumes and powders covered odors.The spa craze in Europe soon made hydrotherapy trendy for the rich. Then the health fads and nutrition gurus like the Kellogg Brothers in America made soaks and therapuetic baths desirable. Harrogate and Bath were prime destinations for water therapies- natural spring water to bathe in and drink-some of it nasty-tasting of sulphur. The wealthy certainly had the hygiene edge with tubs, maids and valets to "draw" the bathwater and the space to devote a room to plumbing and tubbing. Interesting to see that in other cultures, bathing began earlier-especially in the Orient and in Greece where public baths for meditation and purification were popular- now, I am going to have a soak in a bubblebath. Oh- one more thing- Mr. Kohler in 1883 put some claw feet on his steel hog scalder, enamelled the surface and sold it along with his farm equipment catalogue as a bathing trough-smart cookie, Kohler Company is still around and doing fine.
