1596: First urban flushing toilet (aka ‘The John’)
Fast-forward to 1596, about 500 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I’s godson, Sir John Harington, created the first flushing toilet. Harington, who had been banished from the royal court for telling risqué stories, built a home and created the first flushing toilet. After forgiving him, Elizabeth visited her godson and was so impressed by his invention that she ordered him to build one for her at Richmond Palace . . . and bathroom goers ever since have invoked the inventor’s name in “the John.”
Mid-1600s: America’s first citywide water system
Boston developed the first city water system in 1652. Early settlers came together and formed a corporation to build the “Conduit,” a waterworks system for fighting fires as well as for domestic use. Most of the system’s vent piping was made of hollowed-out tree logs.
1664: First water main
King Louis XIV of France ordered the construction of a cast-iron water main that extended 15 miles from a pumping station at Marly-on-Seine to the palace at Versailles. The main supplied water to the nearby town, and the piping served the palace gardens and fountains for more than 330 years.
1767: First mechanical shower
English stove and heater manufacturer William Feetham created and patented the world’s first mechanical shower, known as the “English Regency shower.” The shower consisted of a large basin, where the bather would stand, and an overhead water tank that pumped water upward from the basin via a hand pump.
Once the water was collected overhead, the bather would pull a chain, and the water would be dumped onto them, eventually collecting back in the basin. The water would then be reused over and over for the duration of the shower.
In the beginning, no one wanted anything to do with this contraption; the recycled water was dirty and cold. By this time, hot baths were common and seemed a lot better than “showering” in soiled water. It would take several years and major improvements — including the development of the water heater to provide a consistent flow of hot water inside the house — before the shower became a standard household feature.
1775: Prototype for the modern toilet
Nearly 200 years after Sir John Harington invented the first flushing toilet, Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming received the first patent for a very similar — but improved — device, with a few crucial additions. Cumming improved on Harington’s toilet, which hadn’t been able to refill on its own or eliminate the horrible smell.
Cumming’s prototype featured a device that linked the water inlet valve to the flush mechanism, allowing the pan to be emptied and refilled. Below the bowl, Cumming installed an S-shaped pipe (or “S-trap”) that created a seal with water, preventing sewer gas from entering the toilet.
1778: First flush toilet
Joseph Bramah improved upon Cumming’s design by adding a hinged valve at the bottom of the bowl. He patented his invention and his prototype became the toilet most commonly used on ships, boats, and planes.
1795: First water system for firefighters
When New York City’s population outgrew its plumbing system, it devised a new network of hollow logs to transport water for firefighting. The setup allowed firemen to access water by drilling through the walls of the “pipes,” then plug the hole after they were finished — giving birth to the term “fireplug.”
“View of Tremont House, Boston” by Boston Public Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
1833: First plumbing in the White House
It’s odd, but true: A fancy hotel installed plumbing before the White House did. Until Andrew Jackson’s presidency, water was pumped to the White House from a well at the neighboring Treasury Building. Even when plumbing was finally introduced in 1833, only the main floor of the presidential home had that luxury. The second floor wouldn’t see plumbing until 20 years later, during the presidency of Franklin Pierce.
1835–1842: First municipal reservoir
Midtown Manhattan began construction of the first municipal aqueduct and reservoir system in 1835. Using water from the Croton River, the system began its service in 1842. The system was capable of delivering about 72 million gallons of fresh water a day to city residents.
1848: National Public Health Act
England passed the National Public Health Act — which included notes on water health and safety and established a Central Board of Health — in response to several severe cholera outbreaks. The act had its flaws but served as a blueprint for later public safety acts. Recognized as one of the greatest milestones in public health history, it has been adopted and adapted by countries all over the world.
1855: First comprehensive sewer system in America
In the mid-1800s, Chicago completed construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and reversed the flow of the Chicago River. These two massive plumbing feats that helped transform the city into a national trade hub. During this same period, though, the burgeoning city also lost thousands of lives to multiple cholera, typhoid, and dysentery outbreaks.
To eliminate the swampy conditions that kept making its citizens sick, city engineers, by 1855, built the first sewer system that spanned a city. The city laid sewer lines above the thoroughfares and covered them with dirt, elevating the streets by as much as 8 feet and literally raising the city out of the muck.
1857: First commercially available toilet paper
American inventor Joseph Gayetty began selling “medicated paper” made of hemp and aloe. He was so proud of his invention that each sheet carried a watermark of his name. The toilet paper was sold in packages of flat sheets and advertised as “the greatest necessity of the age!”
1870: First ceramic flushing toilet and water heaters
British pottery manufacturer Thomas William Twyford invented the single-piece ceramic toilet. Around the same time, water heaters began to appear in private homes, revolutionizing the American home later with improvements in cooking, cleaning, handwashing, and bathing. Initially, the water heaters would explode due to steam valves malfunctioning.
1871: Perforated toilet paper
Seth Wheeler came up with the idea to create perforated toilet paper, which makes it easier to tear off in sheets. He also patented the cardboard tube inside, making his vision nearly identical to the modern toilet paper that we use today.
1880–1891: The truth and myth of Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper made the toilet simpler and more practical by improving a few design elements. He invented the floating ballcock, which stops water from flowing into the toilet tank when it’s not needed.
Crapper also came up with the revolutionary “U” shape trap that controls sewer gas without needing more complicated valves. His design improved upon the “S” bend shape, which tended to dry out and clog.
Crapper was a successful plumber and sanitation engineer. But, contrary to popular myth, he did not create the flushing toilet — which long predates his arrival on the scene.
1883: First cast iron bathtub
Originally a manufacturer of farm implements, American John Kohler invented the cast-iron bathtub by modifying iron troughs used for watering livestock. He added four decorative feet and a smooth enamel finish and soon started doing big business in plumbing products and enamelware.
1930s: First standardized plumbing codes
Before he became the nation’s 31st president, Herbert Hoover was one of the fathers of modern standardized plumbing codes for builders and plumbers, along with Dr. Roy B. Hunter. Hoover was an engineer and Secretary of Commerce in 1921, and Dr. Roy B. Hunter was head of the plumbing division of the National Bureau of Standards from the 1920s through the 1940s.
The first plumbing code in America, published in 1928, honored Hoover by calling it the “Hoover Code.” Dr. Hunter’s work is still referenced in U.S. plumbing codes used today.
1950s: First non-metallic pipes
Plastic piping was introduced in 1952 in the United States, in response to the shortage of metals after World War II. Three years later, the first polyvinyl chloride (PVC) water pipes were laid in the U.S. Most pipes for plumbing throughout the country today are made of PVC material, due to its relative stability and low cost.