Rural Rest Rooms

Modern travelers can appreciate the result of the Society’s pioneering e orts in establishing public restrooms. This one in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, was opened in 1917. This drawing of a proposed public restroom appeared on the cover of The Gleaner & Business Farmer in February 1916 along with a story by Grant Slocum.

increase the rates paid by others for deposits, but to reduce the costs of borrowing.

It was hoped that at least 1,000 Gleaner members would express an interest in the idea. The Gleaner carried articles favoring the enterprise and printed a coupon that farmers could fi ll out to indicate their interest. A booklet was printed explaining how deposits and loans could be made by mail.

Slocum was highly respected by a large majority of Gleaner members, but he sometimes found it necessary to quiet the critics in advance. In May of 1906 he promised never to borrow a dollar from the proposed bank and to “take all the stock I possibly can.” He also predicted the stockholders would double their money in fi ve years, a move not likely to silence those jealous of his success.

In February of 1907, an appeal was made to fi nd 200 to 300 Gleaner members willing to invest from $100 to $500 in the Gleaner State Savings Bank. The eff ort was not successful, and the bank seems to have died before it was born.

The bank idea was a good one and would have been a great addition to the Gleaner movement. Its customers would have been the same carefully selected people who made the insurance business a success. It might have provided a degree of safety uncommon to private banks and would surely have saved money for the farmers. After more than a century, it is diffi cult to know why the Gleaner Bank idea failed to gain support, but we can speculate. The idea of banking by mail was a novel one at a time when parcel post and mail order purchasing were viewed with suspicion by many. Banks projected an image of stability through imposing brick and concrete structures with huge metal vaults. That must have contrasted sharply with the idea of depositing and borrowing money through frail paper envelopes! Then there was the fact that most banks did not fail, and the banker was a local person who was dealt with face to face. For whatever reason, Michigan farmers continued to pay high interest rates and sometimes could not borrow at all.

The eff ort to encourage towns to build and maintain rest rooms for farm families seems strange today. The reason for the movement is best expressed in an editorial published in The Gleaner in April of 1913:

“The stinging cold March winds swept across elds and over hills. Here and there romping Boreas caught up handfuls of snow and sleet, which cut like steel as it was thrown in the faces of travelers journeying down the highway toward the Saturday marketplace.

Within the little hotel, the only public place in the county seat village, all was cozy and warm. “Drummers,” gazing out of the windows into

the storm-swept streets, hesitated, talked of the storms they had encountered, and passed a few remarks about the village “hangers-on” who had gathered to “discuss and cuss” things generally.

The merchant had cleaned the snow from in front of his place of business and, the store, still uncomfortable because of the cold, was ready for the day’s business. The village housewife, busy with her Saturday’s work, called the grocer and gave her order with the admonition that it “must be sent up to the house no later than 11 o’clock.”

Sleigh bells announced the coming of the men and women of the farms. What of cold March winds and drifted roads — ’tis Saturday market day — and no 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock delivery travels between the village store and the farm home. The family larder must be replenished.

Where will the ladies nd a place so they may brush-up a little and get thoroughly warm before starting out on the shopping tour?

To the little hotel? Haven’t you read the sign: “This parlor and the conveniences of this hotel are for the use of GUESTS ONLY”? True, the men can get warm and loaf in the hotel o ce, provided the door leads to the bar — and he patronizes this department occasionally.

But the wife and the little girls — where will they go to nd the conveniences they desire? The churches are located on the back streets, and these are cold and cheerless, save for the rst day of the week. The town hall is barren and cold save on election days.

The wife and little girls have just one place to go — “the village store.” And here we nd them close to the big round stove, still cold with wraps laid upon chairs. The clerks as they pass and re-pass the stove suggest by their glances that the mother and little girl “really ought to know when to get out of the way.”

The problem was a real one in the early days of the century. Not many people had cars and a trip to town and back could take all day. Slocum proposed a solution. If the merchants wanted the farmer’s business, why not build a community rest room where they could use the conveniences, get warm, and prepare to shop? After all, the merchants delivered their goods to townspeople, supported ball teams and the local band. Why not spend a little to help some of their best customers? The Gleaner proposed that such a facility include more than just toilets. They wanted a waiting room, a reading table, rocking chairs, baby cribs, baby carriages, and an employee to oversee the facility.

The Gleaner off ered to give $50 for the purchase of furniture to the fi rst town to build a rural rest room. There were no takers in 1913 but that was not the end of the idea. In 1916 the paper published an architectural drawing of “The Gleaner Rural Rest Room.” In addition to the items listed above, the plan added a system of lockers much like the ones in today’s airports. Merchants would build their own lockers and furnish keys to their customers.

In 1915 the Society supported a Michigan state law requiring each city and village in the state to provide “not less than one public closet, commonly known and designated as a public convenience station, in such place or places as directed by the local board of health.” The law passed but was not widely enforced. Gleaner members continued their campaign, however, using the new law whenever possible.

The farmers in Seymour, Indiana, solved the problem in a diff erent way. They formed a Farmer’s Club and constructed their own building. The building, dedicated on Oct. 8, 1914, included nearly all the facilities recommended by the Society.

In May of 1917, The Gleaner reported that Mount Pleasant was one of the few cities to build a rural rest room along Gleaner lines:

“It is unnecessary to say that the Rest Room is appreciated. Almost any hour of the day ladies (for the ladies use it more than the men) may be seen there, anywhere from two to half a dozen, visiting and even doing their fancy work. When tired of shopping or when waiting for “the man” the Rest Room is available, and one of the most sightly places in town.”

The rest room issue may seem strange today, but not in 1913. The issue illustrates how much our lives have changed since the early 20th century. It also says a great