Homestead reminders

This image was shot on the inside of a stall  at the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. This is a historical museum and site of the first homestead claimed in the Homestead Act of 1862. It is a fascinating collection of artifacts and records from the early days of the Midwest farms. Robert and I both recognized many of the artifacts from the farms of our parents and grandparents. Robert insists that many were still in use when he was a kid. 

The door graphic is a reproduction of an outhouse door. According to many sources, the moon designated a women's privy, while a star indicated one for men. 

The text on the graphic is appropriate for an education-oriented building. It reads:

Did you know,,,

most people in rural America used outhouses until the late 1930s? It wasn't until then that indoor bathrooms with indoor plumbing were possible. Think of how many flushes they saved! These restrooms are equipped with low flow toilets to conserve water. What you are doing to save water?

Thankfully, the stall and the restroom itself were perfectly ordinary - clean, working and stocked with regular toilet paper.

No frills relief

These pictures were snapped in the public restroom in the park in Marysville, Kansas. To the uninitiated, Marysville is home of the black squirrels. These little black critters are relatively rare, and certainly in this part of the country. They are all over this park. Urban legend has it that they appeared sometime early in the 20th century as escapees from a traveling circus. 

But their story is irrelevant to this restroom. What struck me was the sheer practical economy of the place. The set up reminds me of something that my uncles might rig in the back of their machine shed. Actually there was a full bathroom in Uncle Martin's machine shed, but that is a whole other story.

The stalls do not have doors, but practical washable shower curtains. The faucet is a bit, um, unhandy. There is no handle. You have to hold the knob in to turn it on; release it and it turns off. So you can only wash one hand at a time. 

The only spendthrift feature of the restroom are the toilets. The water pressure must be unreliable so for the sake of good hygiene, the user is asked to "Please flush twice!" Note the Please and exclamation point. It should be pretty easy since they are fairly 'flush' push buttons.