“Don’t spit on sidewalk.”
That’s some of the best advice ever, and I first read it on a paving brick in my hometown of Baxter Springs. I have since found the message repeated on sidewalks across Kansas, as the bricks were produced by the thousands. Artifacts of an early 20th century public health campaign to combat tuberculosis and other communicable diseases, the bricks were the brainchild of former frontier doctor and early public health advocate Samuel J. Crumbine.
From 1904 to 1923, Crumbine was head of the Kansas State Board of Health and promoted public hygiene as the first defense against disease. In addition to his brick campaign, he became a promoter of the flyswatter, urged a ban on public drinking cups and helped the state through its first pandemic.