SHOWERS IN STREETS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 39, 14 August 1930, Page 9

SHOWERS IN STREETS

A BOON TO CHILDREN

THE HEAT OF PHILADEPHIA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) .. NEW YOEK, 23rd July.

During the present summer it is estimated that a quarter of a million Philadelphia children will have enjoyed regular shower baths in the street, close to their own homes, with the traffic blocked and every precaution taken for their safety.

This unique project is only two years old. It germinated in the mind of the secretary of the Playground Association, who is known as the Shower Man. This young Pennsylvanian saw children furtively loosen a fire plug and disport themselves in the resultant flood till a policeman hove in sight. He immediately got permission from the Water and Fire Departments to attach a shower spray to a fire plug here and there on the hot days, for children to play "We're at the seaside" during the long summer vacation. . Then lie purchased1 a travelling shower and fifty feet of hose and fitted them to a small lorry.

On the first day, about seventy children awaited him. Willing hands roped off the street,.allowing only dolivery drivers to pass. That was in 1928. Last year 130,000 children "made whoopee" under the street showers in their bathing togs without a single mishap. The showers are distributed to tenement blocks, social clubs, and private individuals who signify their willingness to assume responsibility for the care of the children. When the heat wave came, the Playground Association was "snowed under" by demands for more showers. They appealed to the public for funds, which were quickly forthcoming, as tho name of the donor of a £3 shower is inscribed on it. Children save thoir dimes and nickels to buy their own shower, and they label it with the name of their own particular gang. _ The Water Board gavo the association authority to use as many hydrants as they wished. There were 300 in operation last month, those in the tenement quarter operating four times daily. The operators are known as "Knights of the Bath.\»

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