Modern civilization would have been impossible without indoor plumbing. But how did we get from the sewer systems of ancient Babylonia to today’s luxurious spa-like suites? Here’s a brief synopsis of the earliest iterations of the bathroom through the 19th century.

By Dianne M. Pogoda

Bathing, thankfully, has been a popular practice since, well, the Year of the Flood. 

The earliest discovered plumbing systems date back nearly 6,000 years, near the Indus River Valley in India, where archaeologists actually discovered copper water pipes in the excavation of the ruins of a palace in the vicinity. Even then, ancient plumbers knew that copper lasts. 

Modern civilization could not have been possible without the development of sanitary ways to dispose of waste and move water. From Babylonians’ use of clay pipes and water to the Romans’ complex sewer systems to strict laws enacted in post-Dark Ages cities across Europe to mandate sanitary systems, the modern bathroom became a stepping-stone to a healthy society.

Babylonians used clay pipes and water to move waste, and the Romans developed complex sewer systems.

While these early civilizations had figured out the necessity of waste disposal systems, it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s, that it dawned on engineers that the activities of creating waste and disposing of it should be in the same room.

The bathroom was born.

With knowledge and need comes technology, and the revolutionary advances of the Industrial Age identified the problem: too many people and too much waste in too small a space — and suggested the solution: modern plumbing and the flush toilet (invented in 1596 by Queen Elizabeth I’s godson, John Harrington). Alas, the Ajax, a noisy contraption with valves that washed bowl waste into a cesspool below, proving that a toilet without a sewer is just a gigantic chamber pot. Human waste, whether tossed out onto the streets or collecting in cesspools, was a health hazard. Once the relationship to the spread of disease like cholera and typhoid was established, governments decreed that connecting homes to public sewers was mandatory, and modern sanitation took a giant leap forward.

The first patent for the flush toilet was awarded to British inventor Alexander Cumming in 1775. His invention introduced the S-Bend to the design of flush toilets, which allowed fresh water to sit in the toilet bowl, while preventing sewage water and fumes from rising into the bowl. This technology has been in use ever since.

In 1767, Englishman William Feetham was granted the first patent for a shower. A pump forced water into a vessel above the head of the user, who would pull a chain to release the stream of water. On the plus side, no servants were needed to fill and pour the water. However, there was no way to get hot water through the system, and the same dirty water was used multiple times. Back to the drawing board.

The Brits didn’t give up. In 1810, a 12-foot-high shower, the English Regency, made its debut. It was outfitted with a pump that lifted water from a tank at the bottom through a pipe to the top of the tank. It was fancier, but the water was still used over and over again.

Meanwhile, in the New World, architect Isaiah Rogers designed The Tremont Hotel in Boston in 1829 — with an indoor plumbing system. Water was drawn from a metal storage tank on the roof. Seven years later, Rogers designed the Astor House in lower Manhattan. Its 17 bathrooms could serve 300 guests. The bathtubs featured little gas furnaces and tanks that heated the water. Both toilet and bath drained into the sewer system.

But that was for the wealthy folk. Most commoners were still using more primitive accommodations. In the 1840s, the architect and designers of New York’s Central Park denounced the outhouse as “troublesome, unhealthy, indelicate and ugly.” All true. They tried to correct this by designing little Gothic structures combining a summer-house view of the garden on one side, and a “two-holer” on the other. And thus began the quest for bathroom-related aesthetics.

In the 1840s, the architect and designers of New York’s Central Park denounced the outhouse as “troublesome, unhealthy, indelicate and ugly.” To correct this, they designed little Gothic structures combining a summer-house view of the garden on one side, and a “two-holer” on the other.

The mid-19th century saw exponential leaps in bathroom technology on both private and public levels. The British government decreed in 1848 that every new house should include a water closet (WC) or ash-pit privy to hamper the outbreak of disease. “Night soil men” emptied the ash pits. In 1853, the first patent for a siphonic flush was recorded by Joseph Adamson of Leeds. This automatic flushing system used a pivoted cistern balanced by a counterweight. In 1857, engineer Julius Adams revamped Brooklyn’s water system, creating the first modern city sewage system, and in the process, made modern sanitary engineering possible. And in the 1870s, modern showers were installed in French army barracks, making hygiene economical and accessible for the troops. A decade later, working toilets are wed to working sewers, making modern urban civilization possible and keeping disease at bay.

On the product side, in the latter part of the century, Benjamin Waddy Maughan invented the gas-powered water heater in London specifically to heat water for showers, sinks and bathtubs; the “rain bath” emerged in Germany; the chain-pull toilet was introduced in hotels and the homes of the rich and famous; John Michael Kohler invented the modern bathtub by adding four decorative feet to the bottom of a cast-iron horse trough and covering it in an enamel finish; Norwegian Edmund Rudd improved on Maughan’s water heater by making it electric and adding a water tank, giving birth to the modern water heater. Thomas Crapper of London invented the U-bend plumbing trap, which was an improvement on the S-bend trap. Contrary to popular lore, Crapper did not actually invent the modern toilet — but he was the first to display his wares in a showroom.

John Michael Kohler invented the modern bathtub in 1883 by adding four decorative feet to the bottom of a cast-iron horse trough and covering it in an enamel finish. Its selling point: “Horse Trough/Hog Scalder — when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub.”

Finally — but certainly not insignificantly — in a big step toward comfort, the first form of toilet paper was invented by the British Perforated Paper Co., and Clarence and Irvin Scott were the first to put it on a roll.

Check back on nkba.org for part 2 of “The Bath Evolution.”