Humboldt County
Historical Association
PO Box 162
Humboldt, Iowa
50548
Three-Hole Outhouse: “Good Enough for Royalty!”
“Why three holes?” That’s the first thing many people ask when they look inside the outhouse on the museum grounds next to the schoolhouse.
Clay Norman, who donated the unique building, doesn’t have an answer for that. However, he does say that he thinks it is a very modern outhouse. “It was used up into the 1950s. It’s got wainscoting and two windows high enough so nobody could peek in. It has a ventilator on the roof. You wouldn’t freeze to death in the winter or have to brush snow off the seat because it has double walls. It was painted grey inside and white outside.”
The three-hole outhouse was on the farm where Clay’s dad, Clarence, and his uncle went to live in 1946. There were two houses on the farm, one was modern and the other wasn’t, so the outhouse, situated about 50 yards from the latter house, was in use.
After WWII, the house was modernized and rather than burning and burying the elegant outhouse, Clay’s aunt said she wanted to use it as a garden shed. “So we loaded it on a hay rack and brought it over to her house,” said Clay. The outhouse’s garden shed career ended about four or five years ago when Clay donated it to the museum. “Norm Caldwell said he thought it was good enough for royalty and I didn’t want it to just disappear. I’m glad it’s in the museum. It’s a part of history.”
Not all outhouses in Humboldt County were as splendid as Clay’s three-holer. Most had only one or two holes, wasps loved to build their nests in them, flies called them home, and spider webs abounded on the ceiling and walls. On Halloween outhouses were routinely tipped over or moved to an inappropriate spot. Many a householder dreaded looking out the window at their outhouse the morning after Halloween.
"Norm has bolted the outhouse down on the cement pad and it can’t be tipped over,” commented Clay. “And it’s too heavy. And nowadays, kids now don’t know anything about tipping over outhouses.”
The museum outhouse has a crescent moon cut into the door. Why the moon and which way do the points on the moon face are questions that have vexed many who are interested in outhouse architecture. Some say that the crescent in the door was popularized by cartoonists, as in Al Capp’s “Lil Abner” comic strip.” Others claim the practice began during the American colonial period to denote gender for an illiterate population, the sun and moon being gender symbols in that time. Still others say it is all an urban legend and that the purpose of a hole in the door is ventilation.
Before rolls of toilet paper were available, old newspapers, catalogs, corn cobs, and leaves were kept in a can or other container to protect them from mice. Catalogs and newspapers also provided reading material for the occupants.
Outhouses have a long history. Thomas Jefferson designed and built two brick octagonal outhouses at his vacation home. A double-decker was built to service a two-story building in Cedar Lake, Michigan. President Calvin Coolidge had a window in his outhouse but these were rare.
Three-hole outhouses have a history as well. An opulent 19th century antebellum example is at the plantation area at the State Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Modern sanitation and sewer systems have almost obliterated the outhouse from the urban landscape. However, there are areas where an outhouse is appropriate. The internet has a number of sites that will give you plans on How to Build an Outhouse. If you just want to check one out, visit the Humboldt County Museum and see an outhouse “good enough for royalty.”