Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
EARTH CLOSET CO.
EARTH CLOSET CO. The modern earth-closet was unknown until 1860, when the Rev. Henry Moule took out a patent. His objective was to save his poor Victorian parishioners from cholera by developing a sanitary but simple toilet, suitable for homes where indoor piped water was impossible. In the earlier 19th century a rough sort of earth-closet was used and occasionally might be found in a small room, or even in a large unventilated cupboard adjacent to the dining-room, billiard-room, gun-room or, as it was called, the hunting parlor.
In Dubuque the company selling these toilets was located on the northeast corner of 8th and Main.
See: PATENTS