Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/484

 THE MODEL PUBLIC BATH AT BROOKLINE.

The new public bath of Brookline, Mass., is a noteworlhy and unique institution. It bears the distinction of being the first municipal, all-the-year-round bathing establishment in the United States having swimming facilities as well as cleanliness baths. It is a model institution, for it embodies in its construc- tion and management many suggestive features for other cities and towns looking to the same wise provision for the people. Brookline has shown what an inland town can do to offset the disadvantages of having no water frontage. It has proved that a public bath can be erected which will be patronized by every class. It has further demonstrated the feasibility of making the art of swimming more generally acquired, and it has estab- lished the fact that by a small fee a public bath can be made almost, if not entirely, self-supporting.

The proposition to establish a public bath was first presented at a town meeting in 1895, when a committee of three was authorized to proceed in the matter. This committee was com- posed of Dr. H. Lincoln Chase, agent of the board of health; Mr. James B. Hand, formerly connected with the same board, and Miss Martha Edgerly, of the board of trustees of the poor. The best points in all baths, home and foreign, were utilized by the architect, Mr. F. Joseph Untersee, of Brookline, the finished structure costing 840,000, exclusive of the land.

The bath is centrally located near the railroad station and close to the finely equipped new high school. It faces the principal public playground. The handsome building is in T- shape, with 86 feet front and a depth of 129 feet, its materials being water-struck brick and limestone. The head -house has a handsome main entrance in the center, and contains a vestibule, hall, and waiting-room, with office for attendants, the last being supplied with cupboards for bathing suits and towels. On the left, as one enters, is the room for private bathing, fitted up with three tubs and six Gegenstrom showers, with room for more.

470