The Shower Facility
Going down the steps, we first come to a landing with a closed door leading off to the left. The steps to the showers go off to the right. As you get to the landing, you become aware that you can hear people talking or even music and the sound of gunfire, coming from behind the closed door. That door is the emergency exit that leads to the Town Movie Theater that was located on another level in the Hall. The sounds and the music are coming from the movie that is playing. We will visit the Theater later on.
The shower facility had two reasons for being there. The first was for the use of folks exercising or playing in the Gymnasium up above. The other was for the use of the male residents of the mill village. For many years, the village houses had inside toilets but not bathtubs or showers. Those were not installed until after Word War II. Many men and boys would come down to the Hall to take showers.
I remember it, somewhat, from my one visit to the showers about 1948. My Dad brought my brother and me to the Hall to use the showers. If I remember correctly, we stopped at the counter where Mr. Trent worked to pay for the showers and to get soap and towels. I remember the shower area as being large with many individual showers.
I don’t know if the use of the showers continued until the Hall was finally closed.
We leave the showers and climb back up the stairs to retrace our steps back to the outside of the Hall. On our way in, we had seen a set of steps leading down off on the right side. Let’s go down those steps. At the bottom of the steps, we find ourselves facing the doors to the town’s Movie Theater. For a child in the 1940’s and 50’s, this was a magic place. Going through those doors, you could be transported to other worlds and to other times. Click on this link to find out more about the Movie Theater.
This web site has been started as a public service to share the story of Pacolet.