The Tribune mentioned several months ago t hat the trustees of the Wilder Charity, St. Paul, would devote a part of the funds available for the “worthy poor of St. Paul,”as the wills of the donors specified, in building an equipping a public bath. The Wilder public bath is now finished. It was formerly opened to the public a week ago, and now everything is ready for the public that would be clean. Cleanliness may almost be said to be thrust upon the St. Paul unwashed. Not that the baths are free, but the cost is so small, in no case more than a nickel, that any dirty man or woman caught in St. Paul will probably be banished as a suspicious character or sentenced to spend at least a half hour under those merciless and cleansing sprays. “Be ye clean,” might well be the revised version of the motto of St. Paul.
The white tile plunge is the master stroke of the bath. The swimming pool is 30 by 70 feet. and varies from 3 to 7 feet in depth. The water is filtered, although it -is taken from the city mains and in its ordinary condition is considered wholesome for drinking and use. A circulating pump of 600 gallons capacity keeps the water circulating for reheating and re-filtering. The water is illumined by 14 submarine lights in the ends and side of the tank. One can see a pin on the bottom. There will be women’s days, when the plunge will be at the disposal of women swimmers. On those days all entrances from from the men’s side will be locked. A gallery surrounds the room for the convenience of visitors.
As handsome as a pagan temple is the bathhouse of white enamel brick and marble. Its surroundings may be ugly, but the building itself shines like a diamond in the dirt. It was designed by J. W. Stevens, architect of the Wilder corporation. Mr. Stevens visited many Eastern cities to inspect municipal baths and he embodied all the good features he saw and he avoided all the defects he noted or was told about. Now the trustees of the Wilder corporation, and men competent to judge, say that the St. Paul public bath is the finest in the country. The building is only one-story when viewed from the street or Seven Corners, but because of the slope of the street it is really two stories. The approach is by a terrace which is protected from the street an ornamental coping. Toward Seven Corners and between the bathhouse and the ugly rear of the block next to it there will be arranged a Japanese garden, with all the features that will make it a charming accessory and a delightful place to rest.
-The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune
May 31st, 1914
