There's always Laporte

 

The 2013 Annual Dinner of the Historical Society/Museum in Laporte was on August 15, 2013 and featured the below described speech:

"Treasures Below the Outhouse" 

Outhouses have also been referred to as “house behind the house” or a privy or an earth closet. Usually they were located away from the house and fresh water sources, and faced the opposite direction from the home. They were (and sometimes still are) a simple, small structured building placed over a pit that becomes a toilet. Their earliest existence appears to be in the fifteen century or 500 years ago. Because of the lack of education, literacy was a problem so to designate early outhouses for the sexes, a sun standing for the men or a moon for women was cut into the door. This allowed for not only a little light but also some venting. Eventually the sun insignia for men was changed to a star. Today the moon is a recognized symbol for the outhouse as the stars slowly disappeared. Speculation is that men tend to like to go behind a tree and then there's the general housekeeping and upkeep that may have been performed well by women for the care of their outhouses. And of course, in modern times, the outhouse was replaced by the water closet, better known as indoor plumbing. But, whatever the reason, in its day the outhouse served a necessary function that the majority of us wouldn't begin to appreciate today!