RSP’s Ladies Rest House Featured on New Blog

The Ladies Rest House in Rock Springs Park has been featured on a new blog all about lost women’s spaces. The blog, called “Lost Womyn’s Space” and hosted by Silverside, is a project to commemorate these lost spaces both old and modern.

The Ladies Rest House was a necessary restroom and break room for women wearing tight-fitting corsets and the only original building from the 1890’s remaining in the park when it closed for good on Labor Day 1970.

The first postcard image above shows the Ladies Rest House as it looked in the 1890’s. In this later colorized postcard of the same view, an artist has removed the pole at center. “Often postcard artists would romanticize images by removing all undesirable features, such as telephone poles, junk yards, background clutter, and sometimes even cars and people by painting or air brushing” (Images of America: Rock Springs Park, p19).

Check out “Lost Womyn’s Space” at http://lostwomynsspace.blogspot.com/2012/05/ladies-rest-house-rock-springs-park.html.




Rare rear view of the Ladies Rest House in 1969.

 

Possibly the last photograph taken of the Ladies Rest House prior to its razing in 1974. Notice the band shell stripped down and and made ready for transport to Chester City Park.