Good Clean Fun: The Rise and Fall of Cleveland's Bathhouses, 1900-1950
- Bathhouse Origins: Public Recreation and the Settlement House Movement
- Growth of Cleveland's Emerging Bathhouse Culture
- Recreation, Depression, and Decline: 1930-1950
Description
Between 1900 and 1950, bathhouses existed in the city of Cleveland in various locations throughout the city. These public spaces served many recreational and civil purposes for Cleveland's citizenry during the decades that they stood in the city. This exhibit traces the lifecycle of the bathhouse movement in Cleveland and demonstrates how the history of these public spaces reflected the changes that took place in Cleveland during their existence and decline.
Credits
Joseph A. Reed
Sections
Bathhouse Origins: Public Recreation and the Settlement House Movement
Cleveland's bathhouses have their roots in two specific forms, bathing beaches and settlement houses. During the waning period of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, middle-class Clevelanders began to enjoy the recreational space of bathing beaches at Euclid Beach, Edgewater Park, and Gordon Park. At the same time in the city of Cleveland, settlement houses began to raise awareness about public concerns pertaining to Cleveland's poor. These two factors, one recreational and the other a public movement, would both contribute to the rise of the bathhouse movement in Cleveland.
Growth of Cleveland's Emerging Bathhouse Culture
Between roughly 1918 and 1929, bathhouses emerged in working-class neighborhoods, filling a specific public need in many communities. The location of public baths in working-class neighborhoods had specific social and cultural implications that facilitated changes in the use of public space. Another emergence in the 1920s was that of indoor plumbing, a luxury that had soon become a norm in most homes and buildings. The social changes of public space and the privatization of bathing had significant consequences for the bathhouse movement in Cleveland.
Recreation, Depression, and Decline: 1930-1950
Between 1930 and 1950, the last phase in the lifecycle of Cleveland's bathhouses, the complexes were transformed by recreational usage, played a significant role in the economic recovery of Cleveland during The Great Depression, and suffered the unfortunate affects of suburbanization, neglect, and urban sprawl. In only a short period, the bathhouses would be revived by one generation, while another left them to parish as urban relics. The bathhouse movement in Cleveland came full circle, with the disappearance and closing of many public baths in Cleveland's neighborhoods and the decline of its once cherished bathhouse facilities in bathing beaches.