(AUBURN) - DeKalb County Historian Mary Diehl is asking residents to help locate surviving Works Progress Administration outhouses built during the Great Depression, according to a story in The Star newspaper.
The small structures were part of a nationwide sanitation effort in the 1930s and early 1940s, when many rural homes still lacked indoor plumbing.
Unlike older privies, WPA outhouses followed standardized designs that often included slanted roofs, screened ventilation and concrete vaults to reduce odor, contamination and the spread of disease.
The Star reports these once-common structures were found across northeast Indiana, including DeKalb County, but very few have been formally documented and many have disappeared over time.
Diehl has now launched what she calls the DeKalb County WPA Outhouse Search, an effort to identify, photograph and preserve the history of any remaining examples.
Residents are encouraged to share locations, photos and family stories tied to surviving outhouses or sites where one once stood.