An article I read put forth the idea that 'about one third of the homes during the 1950's were "dilapidated", or were without running water or a private toilet and bath'.
As I mentioned in Part One, my grandparents lived on a small farm. The time period of my remembrance was from mid to late '50's till the mid 1990's. They chose not to have running water or an inside toilet. We had a small inside pump hooked up to a 'cistern'. The rain water ran into the system of gutters on the eaves of the house and into the cistern. We used that for bathing, laundry, dishes, and the like. For drinking water we had a separate pump at the bottom of the hill (the house sat at the top on the flat). That well had been hand dug, so it wasn't deep, but it was ample for all but drought years. We would pump a bucket of water and carry it to the house for drinking. It had a dipper that we used (yes, everyone used the same dipper) to drink out of. We also pumped water into a metal barrel that had been sawed in half length wise. It was set up to water the livestock and we pumped water for them twice a day at least, besides what we carried up to the barn.
I take a bit of issue with the idea that 'one third of the homes were dilapidated (I would add here the word, 'and') without running water or a private toilet and bath'.
Put up beside someone's brand new home of today it would look old, but I we would be comparing apples to turnips. As far as running water, our system worked for the time we were in. When we wanted hot water we pumped it into a large 'tea kettle' or even a large kettle, set it on the stove and waited. To take a bath it was poured into a tub in the kitchen or pantry and that was our 'bath room'. It was dumped out when we were finished. Yes, the outhouse was—outside and about forty feet from the back door, but it was a private toilet. When living with my mother 'in town' we had all of the amenities. We had inside toilet, bathroom, running water, a water heater, and a furnace. Rural versus urban might be the key.
As I was researching the 1920-1940 time period I learned several things, many relating to my actual research, and also related to human nature and assumptions.
In my naivety years I had assumed people of past generations were more moral. I have read of others who assumed that during the 'great depression' everyone was poor, ragged, starving and standing in soup lines. Another assumption I have encountered is there were no cars.
The 'roaring twenties' were so labeled for a reason. There was much crime and corruption in many places. Spurred on by Prohibition (1920-1933) the 'Speakeasies' and gangsters were rampant. During times of wealth the nation's morals often fall into decay, and the 1920's was no exception. In the 1930's the parachute came out and slowed the decline. People in general turned back to religion; as it were turned back to God.
During the '20's there had been a mass exodus from the rural areas to the cities. People were looking for more prosperous employment. During depressions (there have been many throughout our history) people tend to move back to a more 'self-sustaining' rural lifestyle. Consequently, even though the wealth and excess of the 1920's disappeared in the 1930's and didn't reappear until WWII, many people learned to adjust. They learned to hustle so to speak. There were some jobs, and there were still entrepreneurs. There were automobiles, telephones, and conveniences. Yes, there were fewer of them.
Of course WWII brought the economy back into booming production. By the 1950's the economy once again began to kick in to a consumer economy. I write that to highlight my taking issue with statements such as this:'Only a small minority of families enjoyed such basics as a mixer or had a hot-water heater.' Once we had electricity (1954) at my grandparents farm, we also had an electrical handheld mixer (for cakes and whatnot). We never did have an electrical hot water heater— by choice.
To be continued~
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