From a neighbor:
There is an interesting photo in the Times Dispatch today of the Grace Arents public baths on the 500 block of Belvidere.
Caption: In May 1952, the Richmond City Council ended a longtime city service: the Grace Arents public baths, in the 500 block of South Belvidere Street. As a Times-Dispatch story noted: “The last public bath in the city … finally bowed to old age and the home bathtub and shower.” Arents, who lived from 1848 to 1926, was a local philanthropist and niece of Lewis Ginter.
This coincides nicely with RVAnews.com’s picture of the day:
http://rvanews.com/features/picture-of-the-day-splash-in-5-4-3-2-1/90863
Also from neighbor:
Another grander public bath house was at Monroe Park. The facade is incorporated into the VCU dorm there:
http://www.housing.vcu.edu/halls_villages/grc1.html
Some of the old-timers on the hill still remember going to these baths as a child. Of course there would be a privy in the back yard.
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