Festering! Rotting! Loathsome!
In the 1860s, residents of working-class neighborhoods like the Lower East Side threw trash in wooden boxes in front of their tenements.
However, as a reporter noted at the time, the boxes were "not at all sufficient for the people disposed to be cleanly." Even when available, and they often were not, trash boxes were hardly ideal.
In 1863, The New York Tribune called the trash boxes receptacles of "heterogeneous filth…forming one festering, rotting, loathsome, hellish mass of air poisoning, death-breeding filth, reeking in the fierce sunshine."
The Street Cleaning Army
The filthy state of New York’s streets only improved when George Waring took over the Department of Street Cleaning in 1895. Waring reorganized the department along military lines, minimized political influence in employment, stressed sweeping by hand rather than with machines, and dressed street sweepers in white duck uniforms, earning them the nickname of “white wings.”
Hear more about the history of New York's garbage in this podcast with Robin Nagle, Prof. of Anthropology at NYU.
Matt Lauer at the Tenement
Earlier this month, Matt Lauer paid a visit to the Tenement Museum. He was researching his roots--Matt's grandfather came from Romania and lived on the Lower East Side. Tune in to Today on August 26th to see what Matt Lauer learned!
Tenement 2.0
We've completely redesigned
www.tenement.org. It's cleaner, brighter and packed with great features, including
new ecards with our artifacts, including this vintage
MetLife brochure for prospective Americans. Your feedback is appreciated--
please tell us what you think!
Reuse and recycle in style with this 100% recycled shopping bag. 
Hit the market with this handsome, sturdy bag. Carries up to 30 pounds!
