When were the first public litter/trash bins installed?

Dear Ms. Kaplan,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog but were unable to locate records pertaining to the first use of a public trash receptacle in the U.S.

We searched the internet and located the following unofficial web sites that may provide background information for what you seek:

• https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/eug%C3%A8ne-poubelle-the-inventor-of-the-trash-can/0gJSFgJzbfSQJg
• https://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/495web/garbage.html
• https://playpowercanada.ca/blog/how-commercial-trash-cans-help-prevent-littering/#top
• https://medium.com/@trashcansunlimitedoutreach/the-history-of-the-trash-can-and-all-its-dirty-secrets-b12c6853e81b

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!

You might also check with the local municipal archives of older cities with long established public parks and beaches, such as Boston (Boston Common and Public Garden) and New York City (among others).

Some records from the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Commission are also digitized on the Internet Archive:   https://archive.org/details/bostonparkscommission

As one example, the Minutes of the Boston Parks Commission from March 16, 1910 include a discussion over a refreshment concession stand. No trash cans are mentioned but they do note the need to allocate labor to pick up "stray papers":

https://archive.org/details/minutesofcityofb1910bost/page/10/mode/2up

Here's an earlier reference from 1906 about "trash barrels" at Marine Park:

https://archive.org/details/minutesofcityofb1904bost/page/116/mode/2up?q=trash

Hope this is helpful!

A great book on this topic is Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It (Historical Studies of Urban America) by Alison Isenberg in the first chapter. You should be able to find some great resources in the references. I hope this helps, good luck in your course it sounds very interesting!

Best,

Cara Moore Lebonick

National Archives at St. Louis