Chickens in the living room, nine children crowded in a single rag-covered bed, one outdoor water tap for 16 houses were among Toronto 1910 slum housing conditions described by Medical Director Dr. Charles Hasting in a talk to the Irish Benevolent Society. Six months later, Hastings spelled out more excruciating detail in a groundbreaking […]
Tag: Sanitation
Ban the loving cup
The Peterborough Review, July 23, 1910, applauds the state of Minnesota in its efforts to curb the use of “the old tin cup, the gourd and the cracked water glass” at “free drinking places.” A notice that the state intends to post at public wells and fountains reads: “Warning. Dangerous diseases, such as diphtheria, tuberculosis, […]
Dirty bread calls for bread bags
Bread bags, to avoid dirty bread, are proposed in this item from the Montreal Witness, reprinted in the Regina Standard, March 3, 1898. The bread-man who delivers his loaves in hands discolored, let us suppose, by his reins and clasped against a coat which has for months battled with the spatterings of city streets, possibly, […]
Dead horses, cats, dogs, manure in Toronto’s drinking water
A call to supply York, soon to be Toronto, with clean, safe water is issued by the Canadian Freeman, April 5, 1832. York Bay. It is really astonishing how the magistrates can allow the horrible nuisance which now appears on the face of this Bay. All the filth of the town—dead horses, dogs, cats, manure, […]