Good Clean Fun: The Rise and Fall of Cleveland's Bathhouses, 1900-1950

The Great Depression had a tremendous impact on the public baths in the city of Cleveland. Like millions throughout the country, laborers in Cleveland were dramatically affected by the economic downturn that lasted for nearly two decades in the United States. The city of Cleveland was among the nation's leaders in public money as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program. Government organizations such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) put millions of Americans to work for the government in virtually every economic setting from construction projects to mural painting. In Cleveland, the improvement of city buildings was one of the primary objectives of New Deal construction projects. These projects included the renovation of various public bathhouse complexes throughout the city, including those on St. Clair and Woodland Avenues. The construction of public recreational complexes was popular during the New Deal. In Cleveland, many such complexes were added onto pre-existing bathhouse complexes. This would cement the transformation of the public bath from a space of public hygiene into a space of public recreation.

For many public bathhouses, restoration was desperately needed. The 1920s had witnessed the downturn of the bath industry. For many facilities, the lack of funding from the city had caused deterioration resulting from neglect. In a paradoxical manner, the economic crisis of The Great Depression offered the city the opportunity to restore the complexes, as well as provide citizens with new facilities and additions that could be used by the public. For those who were displaced from their jobs or lost their homes, bathhouses also became temporary public spaces where citizens could bathe, shower, and congregate with their neighbors. As the bathhouse became a relevant place again for Clevelanders with the new addition of recreational facilities, The Great Depression ushered in a new, although short lived, period of new recreational space for Clevelanders and a useful escape from the realities of economic hardship.