Tin Sign - Out house

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
August 6, 2009

Outhouses With Two Holes: No, these old vintage structures weren’t usually doing double duty. Rather, most contained two holes of different sizes - one for adults and one for children. Don’t think those kids wanted to sit on the bigger hole and risk the consequences. However, that being said, some large families would have multiple holes for use at the same time. In Montana, there was once a hotel that had an outhouse with 12 seats.

Crecent Moon: The crescent moon cutout and the star cutout on the door of many outhouses goes back to Colonial times. In a time when few people could read, the crescent moon was the symbol for women while the star cutout was for men.

Honey, I’m headed to the office!

It is thought that the men, in general, let their outhouses fall into such bad shape that it was the women’s outhouses that survived the test of time.  The cutout also let light into the outhouse as there were usually no windows.
Outhouse Builders: During Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration - the WPA - there were teams of outhouse builders who built most of the outhouses in rural areas.

Toilet Paper: Considered a luxury by most rural families, newspaper or pages from old catalogs was more often used.

Average Outhouse: Usually they were 3 to 4 feet square by 7 feet high with no window, heat, or electric light. Due to the odor, most were built between 50 and 150 feet from the main house, often facing away from the house. So that didn’t have to smell the unpleasant odor, many people left the door open while they were using it. Old-timers will admit that they had trouble breaking this habit with the invention of indoor bathrooms.

The outhouse tin sign has brought back some funny memories for my family and me of past camping trips. I’m sure this tin sign will bring back a few funny moments for you and your family. It maybe will make some new ones to.


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