October 10, 1919: Fastidious Housewife Fined for Washing Sidewalk

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA

October 10, 1919: A Boyertown housewife has been fined $10 for washing her sidewalk.

There is a “no-pave-washing” ordinance; and because the town’s water supply is dangerously low, this common daily practice of the fastidious Pennsylvania Dutch housewife is helping to aggravate a very serious problem.

Warning others will be similarly dealt with if discovered.

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