Commemorate Presidents' Day With These Fun White House Plumbing Facts!
The White House has been the home to every president except George Washington. The Pennsylvania Avenue mansion has stood since 1792 and has grown and adapted with the times. So it may come as a surprise that the White House did not receive its first flushing toilet until 1853, thanks to President Fillmore. Innovating the White House's plumbing has been a project two centuries in the making.
Indoor Plumbing Reaches Pennsylvania Ave
Four presidents endured the White House's inhospitable arrangements before John Quincy Adams installed waterspouts for his gardening hobby in the White House during his 1825-1829 term. Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, is credited with installing pipes to bring water into the White House in 1833, with bathing rooms soon to follow.
Hot and cold water was not used in the White House until 1853 when Franklin Pierce replaced the kettle-fire heated baths with hot running water taps. President Fillmore later added to the bathrooms by having flushing toilets installed on both floors of the house.
Taft's Presidential Custom Bath
The White House has been home to many interesting pieces of furniture. From the Resolute Desk to the Lincoln Bed, the White House's furniture is as historical as the building itself. Perhaps the most famous, however, is President William Taft's bathtub.
Taft once pushed the scale to 350 pounds. He is the largest president ever to sit in the Oval Office. The rumor goes that the substantial president once got stuck in the White House bathtub. Of course, the rumors started after his presidency ended and were never corroborated. Still, one piece of evidence remains to this day: President Taft installed the world's largest single-person bath ever into the White House.
Similar enormous tubs were also installed in Taft's home, any notable residencies he visited frequently, and a battleship he took on a tour of the Panama Canal. The seven-foot, one ton mammoth of porcelain has never been contested for the title of the largest single-person bath and fuels the rumor of Taft's bathtime faux pas even to this day.
The Nixon "Plumbers" of Watergate
Being the scene of historical events often means being the scene of scandals, too. The White House has played host to plenty of scandals in its time, the most notable of which is probably The Watergate Scandal of President Nixon's second term.
President Nixon employed a Special Investigations Unit to handle any information leaks and find any useful information for President Nixon. The unit eventually came to be known as "The Plumbers" after one member explained to his grandmother that he stopped leaks at the White House. Naturally, she assumed he was a plumber.
The name stuck, but Nixon's plumbers weren't able to protect him from impeachment. The Watergate Scandal was chock full of illegal wiretapping, political subterfuge, and other decidedly unpresidential actions helmed by Nixon and "The Plumbers" and resulted in Nixon resigning from office.
With over two hundred years under its belt, it should come as no surprise that the White House's plumbing history is as interesting as broader American history itself!
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