late 19th century privy finds from a chicago workers cottage on cleveland

after slowing down some, i find myself deeply immersed again in the "unearthing chicago" project long after i finished cataloging several extensively archived chicago dig sites for the soon-to be-published "unearthing chicago" book (bldg. 51 museum press) due out this year. like any other project i've worked on, it's hard to turn away when opportunities arise to collect more data - both in photographic and physical form - to gain further insight into a subject or study that always leaves questions unanswered.

within the past two months i've documented at least a dozen excavations downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. discovering the site of druggist stephen israel's short-lived post-fire pharmacy containing extant limestone foundation walls where several seldom found mineral water bottles were unearthed was a highly important find, bearing the type of historical significance for inclusion if and when an updated unearthing chicago book is revisited.

residential excavations are equally important to document, espeically since i'm finding an increasingly broader scope of artifacts from time periods where additional data is needed to achieve a greater understanding of the day-to-day life of during that time, which in this entry, focuses on the late 1890's.

the excavation is in its infancy, but several identifiable bottles and fragments have already surfaced to shed light on the occupants who once resided in the non-extant workers cottage (facing cleveland street - known at the time as hurlbut) demolished earlier this year.

in addition to an assortment of multi-purpose bottles, china and/or stoneware, and leather soles, there was an unusual amount of building materials from a neighboring structure that was demolished several years ago. i managed to lightly clean and photograph some of the most intact bottles recovered from the dig site.

paul pohl was a prolific brewer of beer, ale, and porter during the late 19th and early 20th century. the hand blown two-leage mold pohl bottle found at the cleveland cottage dig site is a dark amber color with smooth base and hand-tooled lip. pohl's bottles were sealed with metal lightning stoppers.

all images courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum photo archive.

updates to follow.