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Free public baths, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minn. – Antique Wall Art

Free public baths, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minn., [between 1900 and 1906] — historic photograph
Free public baths, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minn., [between 1900 and 1906]. Historic photograph from the Detroit Publishing Company collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Free public baths, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minn., a historic photograph rich in period detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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Free public baths, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minn.

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Harriet Island, on the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, was once the site of a free public bath, a summer amenity that gave working families a place to swim at a time when many homes lacked indoor bathing facilities. The Detroit Publishing Company, which travelled the country photographing scenery and civic life for postcards and catalogues in the early 1900s, recorded the scene on a large glass negative. Rowboats and a sandy shore in the background suggest how the island's riverfront doubled as a leisure ground for the city's residents. Municipal bathing facilities like this one were part of a wider Progressive-era push to provide healthful recreation in public parks.

Created / published[between 1900 and 1906]
Medium1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
GenreDry plate negatives.
NotesDate based on Detroit, Catalogue P (1906). G 2120" on negative. Detroit Publishing Co. no. 018182. Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949."
SubjectsPublic baths. Beaches. Rowboats. Parks.United States--Minnesota--Saint Paul.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection
Original scan973 × 791 px
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-DET-61753

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