Caroline Bartlett Crane
Excerpt: Fugate, Sandy. For the Benefit of All: A History of Philanthropy in America. Michigan: W. K. Kellogg Foundation, 1997.
Crane personified the Progressive Movement. Her no-nonsense life was committed to social justice and a more cleanly, orderly world. In 1901 Crane’s report on conditions at Kalamazoo slaughterhouses led to passage of a state law that allowed local governments to enact ordinances for meat hygiene. Her efforts to clean up the streets of downtown Kalamazoo gained national attention: by day, sanitation workers in white suits and brooms patrolled the byways; at night, the city’s firemen hosed down the streets.
Imagine the looks that passed along Kalamazoo’s burly street cleaners: a certain middle-aged woman had just dropped by again, at 3 a.m., to make sure their technique was up to par. She had earned quite a reputation in the city (and state, and nation, for that matter) as America’s Public Housekeeper.
Crane’s most ambitious project took place between 1906 and 1916, when she was invited by 62 cities in Michigan, Kentucky, and Minnesota to investigate their social and sanitary conditions. She systematically observed each community’s water supply, sewers, street sanitation, garbage collection, milk and meat supplies, poorhouses, hospitals, prisons, orphanages, and other institutions.
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