Sanitary Outhouse

Sanitary Outhouse. Nicknamed "The Eleanor". This "sanitary" outhouse is typical of those built by the Works Progress Administration in the early 1930's and eventually nicknamed The Eleanor., In the early 1930's our nation fell into a great depression. Many people were out of work, the stock market had crashed, and families did not have enough to eat. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as our 32nd president in 1933 he fulfilled his pledge to do something to improve economic conditions by creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Through the WPA millions of the unemployed were hired to build new roads, schools, and airports - and also thousands of outhouses., Roosevelt's wife Eleanor pushed to improve sanitation for farmers and rural communities. Shoddily constructed outhouses with poor drainage, leaky roofs and dirt floors contributed to the spread of waterborne diseases such as typhoid and the invasive parasitic hookworm., A farm family could have a WPA sanitary outhouse built for the cost of the materials, from $5 to $17, and under the condition that their old outhouse be burned. A three-man team would spend an average of twenty hours on the construction of each outhouse. The Eleanor had a one-piece foundation and raised seat made of cast concrete placed over a hole dug in the ground. The tin roof was either A-frame or slanting. A ventilation system of screened openings allowed air to draw odors and keep out flies., Mike Wengler, of Timber Frame Reclaim, salvaged this Eleanor in Butler County, Ohio in 2016. Mike donated the outhouse to the Friends of Chrisholm and the Chrisholm Historic Farmstead for the enjoyment and edification of future generations.