Allen County Museum
Allen County Museum from A to Z
B is for...
Bathtub. Before there was indoor plumbing, 19th century Americans bathed from basins, buckets, washtubs, and sometimes ponds or streams when the weather was warm. At that time, people did not bathe as often as we do today. Pictured on the right is a basin style tin tub. This item would have been considered a luxury to Allen County pioneers. It is fashioned with a side drain under the seat, and only held a bucket or so of water in the bottom. When the bather was finished, the tub was tipped to drain the water back into the bucket for emptying outdoors. When this light weight tub was not in use, it was hung on the wall by a hook to keep it out of the way.
