Branch Public Baths

SA-68

John Patteson Branch (1830-1915), banker, philanthropist and community leader, erected Richmond's first public bath here in 1909 at 1801 East Broad Street as a gift to the city. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York began operating municipally managed public baths that were open throughout the year to promote good public health. In 1913, Branch Public Bath No. 2 at 709 West Main Street was opened. At the peak in the early 1920s, more than 80,000 customers used the two facilities each year. The development of domestic indoor plumbing led to the closing of the two public baths in 1950.

Department of Historic Resources, 2005

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Annual Message of the Mayor of Richmond of the City of Richmond, Virginia to the Honorable Council of the City of Richmond for the Year 1920; Annual Report of Branch Public Baths, No. 2: To the Mayor of the City of Richmond, Virginia, for Year Ending January 31, 1918 (Richmond: The William Byrd Press, Printers, 1918); Certain Resolutions and Ordinances of the Council of the City of Richmond Commencing with the Month of September, 1910, and ending with the month of August, 1912 (Richmond: Clyde W. Saunders, City Printer, 1912), 19-20; Branch & Company Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Box 225: Branch Public Baths, General Files 1939-1947; “The Branch Public Baths, Richmond, Va.,” Journal of the American Association For Promoting Hygiene & Public Health Baths 7(1926): 47-49; Commercial Building, 1801 East Broad ST, Virginia Department of Historic Resources Archives File (127-0344-0017); Journal of the American Association For Promoting Hygiene & Public Health Baths, 1924-1935; John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tarter, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (2 vols.; Richmond, Va., The Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 2:192-194; Ordinances and Certain Joint Resolutions of the City of Richmond, From September 1, 1908 to September 1, 1919 (Richmond: Clyde W. Saunders, City Printer, 1912), 34-35; Richmond Times Dispatch; Richmond Times.