Recent comments
- Ack!
- UO
- Miriam Auerbach Wolf, 1912-1978
- Wasp Waists
- Battle ...
- Cinched
- Dust Bowl
- Toy soldiers
- Great Detail!
- Give them a break
- But they're comfortable?
- Different caps
- Honest
- One Out
- Definition
- Nurse tiaras
- I wonder...
- What a personality
- Clean freaks
- Future Twins
- Concerned, dedicated, caring!
- Now, don't anyone smile!
- Interesting footnotes on these three
- A spectacle of herself
- N * A * T * S !
- At ease
- This is what happens
- Germany Schaefer
- Avon calling
- Is it really THAT bad?
Member Photos
Photos submitted by Shorpy members.
Search Shorpy
Today's Top 5
Become a Member,
Contribute Photos!
Contribute Photos!
The Shorpy Store!
Photographers
Photo Galleries
The Best Little Bathouse in Texas
Submitted by Dave on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 5:42am.
Tags:
1914. Dr. Charles Campbell and a "municipal bat-roost" in San Antonio, Texas ("for one of man's best friends"), his idea for mosquito control at a time when malaria was a major public health problem in the U.S. Disguised as a favorite bat habitat — a church steeple, complete with cross — the roost was fitted with a trapdoor and stilts to facilitate the harvesting of guano by the wagonload for use as fertilizer. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
VIEW HI-DEF IMAGE | BUY FINE-ART PRINT | VISIT THE PRINT GALLERY
»
- Original
- 13937 reads
Awesome . . .
Submitted by GypsyLor on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 7:15pm.
When I lived in a very rural area a few years ago, we had a lot of parties and people were always amazed because we didn't have any mosquitoes . . . . every evening we'd sit on the deck and watch the bats . . . . it was very cool.
How did he get up there?
Submitted by Tim Fuhrman on Tue, 11/20/2007 - 2:32am.
Somone said erelyer, how did he get up there? It's true, how did he get up there maybe, he's a bat and flew up there?
Where's The Ladder?
Submitted by IDLERACER on Tue, 11/20/2007 - 12:06am.
Am I the only one who is curious to know how he got up there?
[My guess: With a ladder. - Dave]
Bat-hyphens
Submitted by robcat2075 on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 8:33pm.
So, does one properly hyphenate "bat roost" or not? They seem to go both ways there.
The Good Doctor
Submitted by Denny on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 7:38pm.
Looks a bit like Teddy Roosevelt, eh? The "rotundness" and all that.
Denny Gill
Chugiak, Alaska
I didn't realise the scale of the construction...
Submitted by Yataran on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 10:16am.
...until I saw the man standing there. I thought that it was something quite small, with a shape that imitated a church steeple.
Interesting shot!
Go Organic!
Submitted by Curvilinear on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 8:50am.
It's amusing that so many people think of natural and organic solutions as new and modern. I guess most folks don't think about what life was like before DDT and other chemicals. It's a great photo.
Wonderment
Submitted by Mike Mahaffie on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 7:29am.
I'm so glad the good Doctor chose to pose on his Bat Roost. Otherwise we'd not get a true sense of the size of that thing. You don't really see timbers that size much anymore!
[The supports are poured concrete. - Dave]
Leave a Comment
THE 100-YEAR-OLD PHOTO BLOG
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Site contents © 2009 shorpy.com
