The History of the Toilet

The toilet is one of the most important parts of daily life. Almost everyone uses the toilet on at least a daily basis. While the toilet is common today, it was not always a part of everyone's life. Human civilization has existed for thousands of years, but the toilet has only been a part of life for a few centuries.

Nomadic Groups

Long before civilizations rose up, humans still had to get rid of their waste in some way. Before people settled down, they had to go in the woods, like animals did. This was the status quo for thousands of years, as people mostly moved around and had no reason to have a regular place to go to the bathroom. As civilizations began to form, they had to find a solution for where to go to the bathroom.

Outhouses and Chamber Pots

There were many different solutions that arose, but all of the solutions fell into one of two categories, outhouses and chamber pots. In more rural civilizations that allowed for people to have backyards, many people had some version of an outhouse.

These outhouses were convenient because they were away from the house and thus you would not live with the smell, but the outhouse had several drawbacks, including the fact that it would be difficult to find your way to the outhouse at night, and if you were having mobility issues, you would not be able to get to the outhouse as easily.

The chamber pot was probably the biggest precursor to the toilet. The chamber pot allowed you to go to the bathroom in the privacy of your own home. On a daily basis you would have to empty the chamber pot. While the chamber pot was more convenient than the outhouse, people longed for a better solution.

The First Toilets

The first toilet was invented in the 1500's and was mostly meant for extremely wealthy elites. It worked much like toilets do today, but it was cost prohibitive for most people, due to the cost of plumbing at the time. The dawn of the late 1800's saw more people move to using a toilet and by the end of the 1900's almost everyone had one.

The toilet has a long and storied history that has taken man from using the bathroom in the woods, to the toilet of the day. Today, there are still improvements being made to the toilet, including the emergence of the low flow toilet.

If you're ever having toilet troubles in your Las Vegas home call Anytime Plumbing, Inc at 702-362-9300!