When San José Had Public Baths: Their History, Controversies and Uses

San José once had municipal baths, a public facility tied to the city's wider sanitation efforts and remembered through both hygiene and moral debate.

The baths formed part of infrastructure intended to address the city's sanitary needs. Their existence also raised questions about acceptable behavior, public morality and the ways authorities should promote cleanliness.

The article looks back at the facility's history, the controversies surrounding it and the uses to which it was put. A photograph shows the Municipal Baths from their entrance on Calle 17, around 1908.