New Deal Accomplishment: Over 2.8 million life-saving sanitary privies

Above: During the early part of the 20th century, many low-income Americans built and made use of crudely constructed outhouses, such as this one in San Antonio, Texas, ca. 1936. These poorly-built structures helped spread serious and sometimes fatal illness and disease, such as dysentery, diarrhea, enteritis, typhoid, and hookworm. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: These sanitary privies were built by the WPA in San Antonio, and replaced run-down and unsanitary outhouses (see previous photo). The description for this photo, ca. 1936, reads in part: "Scenes like this are common on the west side of San Antonio where 3,448 pit-type toilets have been installed since the inception of the Federal Works Program." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: WPA-built privies in Bath, South Carolina, May 1938. Sanitary privy construction was one of several types of projects that the New Deal conducted on private property. Other examples include WPA work on small dams, Soil Conservation Service demonstration projects on farms, and CCC firefighting and suppression work in privately-owned wooded areas. These projects certainly helped the landowners but, more importantly, they protected citizens in surrounding areas from disease, floods, and fire. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph, taken in 1935, reads: "Backyard privy, Washington, D.C., near Government Printing Office. Puddle of water in front of privy. Pump on right supplies water for house in back of privy." Situations like this were one of the many reasons that the New Deal engaged in not only sanitary privy construction but also "slum clearance" programs, such as the Alley Dwelling Authority in Washington, DC. Photo by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: This photo, taken by Dorothea Lange in May 1937, shows an "Unsanitary privy in potato pickers' camp near Shafter, California." Photo from the Farm Security Administration and the Library of Congress.

Above: This photo, taken by Russell Lee in 1938, shows a chicken house and outhouse combination, on a farm in Morganza, Louisiana. The description for the photo notes that that farmer would be receiving assistance from the New Deal's Farm Security Administration (FSA). Photo from the FSA and the Library of Congress.

Above: This photo was taken by Marion Post Wolcott in September 1938, and shows a rundown outhouse that was used by 60 people living in or near Charleston, West Virginia. Between 1933 and 1943, New Deal relief workers built and installed over 300,000 sanitary privies in West Virginia, across all 55 counties, in an effort to get rid of structures such as this. Photo from the Farm Security Administration and the Library of Congress.

Above: A WPA privy, a big improvement! The information plaque on this historic privy reads: "Outhouse built by WPA during Depression. Costing buyer $5. Commonly called 'Roosevelt Privies.' Donated by Edward Kosta Jr. Family to Fair Grounds in 2013." Photo by Chris Light, 2018, taken at the Jasper County Historical Society Museum, Indiana; used here under the CCA-SA 4.0 International License.

Above: A WPA poster, promoting the use of modern WPA-built privies. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: A WPA work area for constructing sanitary privies in Chestertown, Maryland, 1936. In the January 14, 1939 edition of the Denton Journal newspaper (Denton, Maryland) the editors wrote: "Since it is a recognized fact that sanitation offers the most effective means of preventing the so-called filth-borne diseases such as Typhoid Fever, Dysentery, Enteritis, and Summer complaint in babies, it is necessary that steps be taken to dispose properly of the human body wastes... Every home and public place not already provided with a sanitary approved type privy should contact the County Health Department for the assistance of the free labor provided by the Works Progress Administration." Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: A flyer advising Pennsylvanians to take advantage of a free sanitary privy construction opportunity, ca. 1937. Newspaper articles during this time period noted the WPA's involvement in these projects. For example, "[Sanitary privy construction] is being sponsored jointly by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Work Projects Administration... The labor involved in fabrication, installation and excavation of the vault will be supplied by the WPA," The Evening Sentinel (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), March 27, 1942, p. 5. Image above scanned from a private copy of the flyer.

Above: This newspaper excerpt comes from The Skyland Post (West Jefferson, North Carolina), September 8, 1938. Between 1935 and 1943, workers in the National Youth Administration (NYA) carried out 13,987 projects to construct or improve cesspools, septic tanks, and sanitary privies. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Los Privados," an oil painting by Pedro Cervantez (1914-1987) created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Privy Totals

 

From 1933 to 1935, workers funded by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) built 561,283 sanitary privies; and from 1935-1943, WPA workers built 2,309,239. 

The National Youth Administration (NYA) built several thousand privies too.

When considering how to calculate the total number of New Deal privies, and the possibility of over-counting due to crossover work (for example, a privy started by FERA and then finished by WPA) it seems unlikely that many privies were worked on by more than one agency since they were simple and small structures (as opposed to schools, swimming pools, or stadiums). However, to take that possibility into account, and thereby keep the estimate on the low side, we'll leave out the NYA privies and we'll round down the CWA-FERA-WPA statistics. Using this method, we can still confidently say that the New Deal built over 2.8 million sanitary privies.

Privy Health Benefits

During the 1930s and early 40s, a common insult leveled at relief workers, especially WPA workers, was that their work mainly consisted of building outhouses. Not only was the insult ridiculous--since it dismissed the enormous amount of WPA work involving airports, bridges, roads, parks, buildings, etc.--but it belittled the health benefits of the privies. For example, the U.S. Surgeon General noted the following in his 1939 fiscal year report:

"Now that the community sanitation projects have been in operation for more than 5 years, it is possible to report significant evidence of the results of the program. The State health departments of several of the States in which the program has been in operation report a substantial decline in the incidence of, and deaths from, typhoid fever, following the work done on the projects. In Mississippi, where 120,000 sanitary privies have been constructed, 161 deaths from typhoid fever and 917 cases of the disease were reported in 1932; in 1937, only 77 deaths and 349 cases were reported. In Tennessee, 308 deaths and 1,898 cases were reported in 1932, and in 1937, only 145 deaths and 763 cases occurred. More than 175,000 sanitary privies have been installed in this State. In West Virginia, where more than 245,000 sanitary privies have been installed, a very substantial reduction in the prevalence of typhoid fever has been noted; 1,265 cases and 218 deaths occurred in 1932, as compared to 350 cases and 78 deaths in 1937. Mississippi also reports that reductions in hookworm disease and dysentery were due largely to the improvement in sanitation made possible by the community sanitation program."

Privy Logistics

The New Deal provided most or all of the labor used in constructing the privies, but the responsibility for construction materials was more varied. For example, the owner of the property might have to purchase the materials; a city agency might buy them; or, there might be shared responsibility of cost between the property owner and local government (for a more detailed summary, see this page of the U.S. Surgeon General's fiscal year report for 1934).

In its 1938-1940 biennial report, the State Health Department of West Virginia explained how its privy construction program operated: "The Work Projects Administration furnishes the necessary labor for carrying out the actual work in the field, the material being furnished by the owners of the property on which the privies are built. The purpose of the project was, first, to correct environmental conditions which were contributory factors in the spreading of such diseases as typhoid fever, hookworm, dysentery and other intestinal borne diseases; and, second, to give employment to men who are out of work and need relief. The project consists of the construction of sanitary privies at private homes, schools, and other places in rural communities and in the unsewered areas of urban communities where the extension of sewer lines is not practical at the present time."

The Forgotten History of Savings Lives

The New Deal's sanitary privy program clearly saved thousands of lives across the country, and perhaps tens of thousands. Throw in New Deal hospital construction, wastewater treatment plants, drinking water utilities, home nursing and housekeeping visits, mobile clinics, mosquito (malaria) eradication, immunizations against diseases like smallpox and diphtheria, etc., and the total number of saved lives undoubtedly runs into the millions - especially when we consider not only the core New Deal years, but the decades that followed (for example, a PWA-funded hospital that served a community from 1935 to 1975).

Most Americans are probably not familiar with this history because it is not widely taught. It should be.