W. P. A. Sanitation Project
Medicine Mound, Hardeman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1937 the State of Texas and Hardeman County worked with President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration in an attempt to provide much-needed employment to indigent citizens and replace unsanitary privies with improved facilities. The advantages of these structures included a decrease in such diseases as typhoid fever, hookworm and dysyntery. The privies featured fly-tight construction and were carefully placed in areas where they could not pollute the water supply. One toilet was placed on this site behind the Hicks & Cobb General Merchandise store. When it was destroyed, another privy was moved from where it originally stood on the property of the Bellamy family. W. H. Bellamy and his family were Medicine Mound town founders. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1937, the State of Texas and Hardeman County joined President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration to provide work for the poor while replacing unsanitary privies with improved outhouses. Built fly-tight and sited away from water supplies, the new facilities helped curb typhoid fever, hookworm, and dysentery. One toilet stood behind the Hicks & Cobb store, later replaced by a privy moved from the property of town founder W. H. Bellamy's family.
Why it matters
This modest privy documents how New Deal relief reached even the smallest Texas towns, pairing Depression-era employment with public-health improvements that quietly saved lives across rural America.
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Related people
- · Franklin D. Roosevelt
- · W. H. Bellamy
Related events
- · Works Progress Administration sanitation program (1937)
Themes & tags
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